His voice died away in low moans; but Pedro seemed no longer the same piratical ruffian, for, when speaking, his voice, manner, and diction were all changed and improved.
This scene, with his mental suffering and terror of death, proved all too much for Ethel's nervous system, and Morley wished to remove her; but Pedro implored her to remain with him yet a little while, and even caught her skirt as she rose to withdraw.
"Great though your sins may be, my poor man, be assured that the mercy of God is greater still," said Ethel, weeping. "Like the sea we traverse, it is boundless."
"But so may be God's vengeance, and I have shed blood—the blood of many," he replied in a low, concentrated voice, through his clenched teeth.
Ethel grew very, very pale on hearing this, and drew back again, lest he might clutch her dress once more.
"Well, even those whose blood you shed may be praying for you, if—if——"
"What—what?" asked Pedro, huskily.
"If you sincerely repent."
"I do repent—I do repent, and sincerely too," he said, impetuously; "but without a priest to absolve me—to give me the last sacraments of that church in whose belief my mother reared me—what matters my repentance?"
Then he howled and gnashed his strong white teeth, while tearing his black glossy hair with his only remaining hand.