"Laugh, girl; but beware! It is in my power to bring his head to the halter!"
"Where, if everybody had their dues, yours would have been long ago."
"Take care, madam; don't carry your taunts too far—even my forbearance has its limits!"
"That's more than can be said of your manners!"
The doctor's sallow visage blanched with anger; but, subduing his wrath, he said:
"I can accuse him of the murder of young Henry Danvers, who was so mysteriously killed. There is circumstantial evidence against him strong enough to convict him in any court of justice in the world!"
"Archie kill Danvers? Why, you horrid old monster, you! Ain't you afraid of the fate of Ananias and his better half, who never told half such a lie in their lives?"
"Lie or not, girl, it can be proved that he killed him. Listen, now," said the doctor, while his repulsive face lighted up with a look of fiendish exultation. "Archibald Rivers loved you—that was plain to every one. This Danvers came along and fell in love with you, too—that, likewise, can be duly proved. Your preference for the young sailor was observable from the first. Rivers was jealous, and I know many who can prove he often uttered threats of future vengeance against the midshipman. On the night of the murder, Archie was observed riding from here, in a violent rage. Half an hour afterward the sailor went for a ride over the hills. I can swear that Archie Rivers followed him. I know he was not at home until late. Most probably, therefore, he followed Danvers, and murdered him treacherously. Jealousy will make a man do almost anything. In a court of justice, many more things than this can be proved; and if he dies on the scaffold, his blood will be upon your head."
Gipsy stood listening to his terrible words with blanched face, livid lips, and horror-stricken eyes. For a moment he thought she would faint. The very power of life seemed stricken from her heart; but, by a powerful effort, she aroused herself from the deadly faintness creeping over her, and exclaimed, in a voice low with unspeakable horror:
"Fiend—demon incarnate! would you perjure your own soul! Would you become the murderer of your own nephew?"