"Yes, I cannot see how I failed!" she muttered.
"If you wish to know, the explanation is easy. I was picked up more dead than alive by a passing yacht, and carried to the nearest town, where I spent weary months in a hospital from the blow I had received on my head in falling over the bluff. I have but lately recovered, and came here and found a position to teach in a school."
"You had wisely concluded to give up your pursuit of me?" she sneered.
"Yes, discouraged by the warm reception I got from you at Cliffdene; but, fate having thrown you across my path again, I believe I ought to make capital of it. You are my wife secretly, and you tried to murder me. Both are dangerous secrets. Perhaps you would pay me well to keep them?"
"I suppose that I must do so?" Roma answered, after a moment's hesitancy, with bitter chagrin.
"Very well. I will take what money you have about you now, and I must know what terms you will make for my silence. A liberal allowance monthly would suit me best."
Roma emptied her purse into his hands, saying:
"If we agree upon terms of silence, will you promise never to molest me again? Not even if I marry another man!"
"I promise! And I pity the fellow who gets you, if you treat him as you did me!"