“Proceed,” I choked out.
“Well, this small matter to me proved a large one for Lady Keith. And her father, it seems, took it to heart also. They were of noble blood, the de Guilforts, almost as good as the Keiths,” and he stroked his moustache with an air of pride.
“Where was I? Oh, yes. Well, Mistress Keith was in a great temper. She defied me to my face; told me I had dishonored her. You know how women are. To be brief, M. de Guilfort, with my wife and her cousin, suddenly left Paris, when I had been called to London on a false report that you had come back. When I returned to Paris, expecting to find all the affair blown over, and a pair of loving arms and ruby lips to welcome me, I found a vacant house; a cold hearth.
“I did my best to trace them but failed. Then, like a man without hope, hating yet loving, loving yet hating, I went to the wars, and finally came to America. And here, thanks to the fates I have found both my enemy and my love.”
“Is that all?” I asked, for I wished to hear the end before I killed him.
“No,” he said bitterly, “not all. When I became attached to the army of the Massachusetts Colony, the first act of Governor Phips was to send me with a message to you here. I little guessed who I should find Captain Edward Amherst to be, much less did I hope to meet with Lucille in Salem town.
“When I galloped to her house that night, not finding you at the inn, I saw, in the dim light, she whom I had been seeking so long. I had no eyes for you then beyond a glance. But when I had ridden away, not desiring to press matters at once, your face came before me, and I knew I had found one other I had been in search of. I shouted aloud for joy.
“I hastened to Boston, where I had left the royal warrant, and I returned with all speed. You had already sailed with the two sloops, though I tried to hail you from the shore to which I galloped. However, I thought that you would return, and, when I looked and saw Lucille, I hardly cared whether you came back or not.”
“Is that all?” I asked again, softly. For I saw, of a truth now, that one of us was like to die; and I did not think it would be me.
“Not quite all,” he said.