“No, she will not tell.”
“Is there any one else who knows?”
“Only her aunt, who may be trusted. No, I don’t think I am in any danger from the law,” he said carelessly, as if that hardly mattered. “But you—you are my supreme judge; and you look upon me as a murderer. Well, perhaps you are right. Let me sophisticate with myself as I will, in that one moment I was in mind and instinct a homicide. When I struck that blow I did not care about consequences. All the savage impulses within me were raging. Yes, I was a murderer. And you say that we must part! That is your sentence?”
She nodded yes.
“Very well; then I must do all I can to make our parting easy and reputable. The world will wonder and talk, but we must bear that. I think I know a way of lessening the scandal. You will live at Merewood, and I will travel. That will make things easy.”
“Live at Merewood without you! Not for all the world. I can go back to Fernhurst to my sisters. What does it matter where I live? The worst is that I must live. You will let me give them some of my pin-money, I know, so that I may not be a burden upon them.”
“Let you? Why, your pin-money is your own, to throw in the gutter if you like.”
“No, no; it was meant for your wife. I shall have no claim upon it when we are parted. But I don’t want to be a burden at the Homestead. I should like to give them fifty pounds a year. I shall not cost them so much as that.”
“I dare say not. Why do you torture me with this talk of money? All the money I have is turned to withered leaves. Eve, Eve,” he cried passionately, “you could not do this cruel thing if our child had lived!”
“Could I not? Would that have altered the fact that you killed my brother? No, for God’s sake don’t come near me,” as he approached her with extended hand, trying to clasp her hand in his, passionately longing for reunion. “There is a ghost between us. I should hate myself if I could forget the dead.”