“But he is dead!”
“I would let any one else but yourself suppose so.”
“My brother Edward told me himself that he saw him fall.”
“Yes, John, and your brother Edward thought that he gave him his death-blow; but I am happy, for his sake and for Laud’s, that it was not so.”
“Are you sure of this?” sighed the youth, as if he half regretted that his brother had not done so. “Are you sure of this?”
“Quite so—quite so! To no one else would I speak it, but I am sure of your goodness. I know you will not betray me.”
“Never, Margaret, never!”
“Well, then, these very hands healed the wound which your brother gave him. I myself nursed him through his dangerous illness; and I know at this time that he is in a respectable foreign merchant’s service, and as well as ever he was.”
This was a tremendous blow to the young man’s prospects; an answer which he did not in the least expect, and from which he could find no encouragement. He begged Margaret’s pardon for what he had said, which was freely given, and a promise made on both sides never to divulge that day’s secret. Alas! this promise was broken by both, as we shall presently see, at the very same moment.