"Well, I'm going to see if all is well, anyhow," I said. "What are you going to do?"
"Trewinion, I feel I have acted wrongly," he said. "I came away leaving my Inez unprotected. The man who stole her from me is dead; but what has become of her I know not. Methinks I never loved her well, or I should not have left her because of fear of pursuit. She was guilty of nothing, and she loved me, and I have left her all these long years."
I was silent, for I felt it would be useless to speak.
"But I shall try to find her," he went on, "and—who knows?—it may be that she will forgive me and we shall be happy. I trust so, I pray it may be so."
"And if you do, how shall I know?" I said.
"I have been thinking of this ever since we decided to leave," he replied, "and this is the plan I have marked out. You had better go first to Bordeaux. From there you will be easily able to get a vessel for England. I, on the other hand, shall go across The Pyrenees to my home at Barcelona. If I am alive, this address will find me," and he put a piece of paper in my hand.
"Will you be safe there?" I asked.
"I think so. You know my people are wild and passionate. They easily forgive such sins as mine when they remember my provocation. Indeed, I have known the perpetrators of similar deeds lauded as heroes. My only thought is, if I shall find Inez—if I do not I shall not care to live; but if I do, the past will be forgotten, and I shall be happy."
The tears stood in his eyes as he spoke, and then I realised that all his sinful deeds had not destroyed his heart.
I left that same afternoon for Bordeaux, while Salambo made preparations to go to Barcelona, where he hoped to find his Inez.