“My clean hands were still linked by law to the unpunished fugitive felon. I am free now, and I know that you never would dare to speak. I know your coward soul. A judicial decree that you are dead can be easily had; your eighteen years of absence makes that my legal right. Widow of the heart, I will be a widow by law. But your coward silence will continue.
“Where did I gain wealth? I see the question in your eyes. I became a school teacher at Leadville. A few acres of ground and a cottage were the first fruits of my savings.
“The kindly mountain gnomes worked for me, with fairy friendship.
“There was a million in carbonates under those rocky slopes where I tempted the hardy flower to grow.
“Young yet—beautiful then—I became the ardent chase of men in marriage. My gold gilded my lonely life. Many wished to share it.
“I was made sadly wise, and I reaped my harvest of sorrows. Five years in Europe made me a woman of the world—an accomplished world wanderer. I have learned in these lonely years the delicious power of wealth.
“I followed your secret example. I legally changed my name to Elaine Willoughby. And my honest title is clearer than yours.
“I have an able lawyer to defend my rights, in whom you would find an implacable foe.”
She paused and spoke the final doom of his hopes.
“Had you come to me, red-handed, but loving, I might have forgiven you, followed you—loved you even in your crime—and suffered all to shield the one beloved head. I did love you once with my whole soul.”