"Lina, I have not told you all that Gerald Huntington told me yet," he said. "Do you remember that it was a disguised woman who liberated him from prison?"
"Yes," she replied, wonderingly.
"It was Violet who connived at his escape, and furnished him the means to get away safely. The price of her aid was that he should kidnap you and prevent our marriage."
"I can scarcely believe it," cried the girl.
"It is quite true," he answered. "Gerald swore to it. Violet does not deny it."
"You did not charge her with it?" the girl cried, in breathless dismay.
"Yes," he replied, firmly. "She was very angry at first, but when I had talked to her awhile, she owned the truth. She had visited the prisoner, and they had concocted their diabolical plan of revenge together. She hated you, dear, because—she loved me."
"And she gave you back your freedom?" Lina said, with unconscious hopefulness.
"Yes, when I had asked her," he answered, with a slight flush. "Her offense had been too great for me to marry her. Do you blame me, Lina?"
She would not say, only asked him, anxiously: