And rapidly Sally told him how the wretched mistake had occurred which led him to disbelieve her truthfulness. She told also of the Council and what had happened before it. All this part he had heard from Mr. Owen, though he did not tell her.
“And now,” she ended with a deep sigh of relief, “thee knows at last just how the matter was.”
“Well? And what then?” Clifford was smiling now. “Now you wish me to acknowledge how wrong I was, I suppose?”
“Nay,” spoke Sally rising. “I did not want anything except for thee to hear the facts. ’Twould be too much to ask of an Englishman to admit that he was wrong. ’Tis a national characteristic to persist in wrong-doing, and wrong believing even when the right is made plain. Had this not been the case we should not have had to go through all these weary years of fighting.”
“’Fore George, Mistress Sally, but you hit from the shoulder! Now here is one Englishman who is going to prove that you are mistaken. It was unjust of me to believe that you could be capable of treachery. I crave your pardon most humbly. I believe that you did your best to help me last spring. These past few days, since I have known that death is so close, have made me look differently at many things. If you think of me at all in future, Miss Sally, let it be as gently as you can.”
He rose as he finished speaking, lightly throwing aside the cords that confined his wrists and ankles, and held out his hand to her with his most winning smile. Much moved Sally placed her hand within his; then, with an exclamation, she withdrew it suddenly.
“Why!” she cried. “Why, thee isn’t bound at all!”
“No? Well, you see I understood that you would not dare to come in unless I was bound. Of course, rather than cause you annoyance I had to pretend to be so.”
The youth was laughing now, and Peggy, mightily relieved to find that such harsh treatment was not to be accorded him, laughed also. Not so Sally. She stood regarding him with eyes in which slowly grew an expression of pain and scorn.