"And now," she said, "please tell me instantly what it was that Rashleigh said of me—I have a right to know and know I will!"
It was some time before Frank could bring himself to tell Diana what her cousin had really hinted concerning herself, and when she heard that he had affirmed her wish to marry him in preference to Thorncliff, she shuddered from head to foot.
"No," she cried, all her soul instantly on fire, "any lot rather than that—the sot, the gambler, the bully, the jockey, the insensate fool were a thousand times preferable to Rashleigh! But the convent, the jail—the grave—shall be welcome before them all!"
INTERLUDE OF DISCUSSION
At the abrupt close of the story the children looked not a little surprised, nor did they manifest their usual eagerness to rush out of doors and instantly to reduce the tale to action.
The first difficulty was as to who the real highwayman could be.
"Did Frank really take the man's bag with the money and things?" ventured Maid Margaret, a little timidly. She knew that she would be promptly contradicted.
"No, of course not," shouted Hugh John, "it was the Scotch drover, Campbell,—for how else could he know so well about it? Of course it was—I knew it from the first."
Meantime Sweetheart had been musing deeply.
"Do you know," she said gently, "I am most of all sorry for Die Vernon. I don't think that I want to play in this story. It is too real. I think Die Vernon lived."