“I believe it was all some scheme of your own,” cried the girl, hysterically. “You are the coward. I shall believe nothing until I’ve seen Mrs. Swinton, and hear what the rector has to say about it. Dick was the soul of honor. He was no thief.”
“He was in debt, my girl,” cried the colonel. “You don’t understand the position of a young man placed as he was. Herresford was understood to have discarded him as his heir. No doubt the young fellow had raised money on his expectations. Creditors were making existence a burden to him. Many a soldier has ended things with a revolver and an inquest for less than seven thousand dollars.”
“Ah, that sort of death requires a different kind of courage,” sneered Ormsby, who was nettled by Dora’s taunts.
“I won’t listen to you,” she cried. “You are 146 defaming the man I love. He couldn’t go away with such things on his conscience. It is all some wicked plot.”
Ormsby shrugged his shoulders, and the colonel sighed despondently, while Dora swept out of the room, drawing her skirts away from Ormsby as though his touch were contamination.
CHAPTER XIV
MRS. SWINTON CONFESSES
Those who heard of the heroic death of Dick Swinton soon heard also of the disgraceful circumstances surrounding his departure. His volunteering was now looked upon as a flight from justice; his death as a suicide to avoid the inevitable punishment of his crime.