He expected to see her start at his words. But she did not even change color, and answered most serenely:
“Yes, if I can win him, when, by your death upon the gallows, I become a widow.”
“Why observe such formalities as my being alive?”
“Because you have not made me so vile as you are, embittered though my life has been,” was the stern response.
“Well, I am sorry to block your game, but I must.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean simply that I cannot find it in my heart to die just to make you a widow.”
“I do not yet understand.”
“I must be more explicit. I do not intend to die.”
“You mean that you will not die on the gallows?”