“Yes!” answered the girl.
“He was interested in his job. He was a good officer. It is the one thing to his credit that I know. There was a new gun, and he had access to the plans. He stole a copy, and sold them to the agent of a foreign government. The theft was discovered and traced, but a friend dropped Dick a telegram which was forwarded to Alcombe Manor—and he ran for it, and got clear away. I imagine that explains why he did not visit you at Cambridge. Of course, the affair was hushed up, as such affairs are, and it is nearly forgotten now, though England would not be a safe place for him. Did you ever hear from him afterwards?”
“Not until last night,” was the reply. “When his note came to me, it was a great shock.”
The corporal nodded. “I can readily imagine that it would be.... Did your father ever know of your marriage?”
“No, thank God! I wrote to him, but before he received the letter the accident occurred by which he lost his life. I found the letter here unopened, when I came here to comply with the terms of his will. I was glad to get here. I was so overborne by the deceit and vileness of those I had thought were my friends in England!”
“They were not all deceitful, surely?” expostulated the young man.
“No! Some are my friends still. I am going to England very shortly, and I shall stay with one of them in Westmorland.”
“Will you ever return here?”
“Most certainly. North Star is my home—I love it, and I have always felt myself safe here—until last night.”
Bracknell understood that she meant that she had felt that in this lodge in the wilderness she was safe from his cousin, and nodded his head.