"Have you proof of that?"
"No."
"Then you had better keep a still tongue."
"I have done so; but you have shown yourself so friendly that I could not help speaking. Besides, it is hard to keep silent under so great a wrong."
"But why should any man—especially a man in the young Squire's position—bribe others to swear your character away?"
"Because he feared I was coming between him and the girl he wanted to marry."
Captain Tom started and looked incredulous.
"Please don't think me egotistical," Rufus continued, with a painful blush. "I can assure you I have never aspired so high. But——"
"You saved her life."
"I had that good fortune, and she was grateful, and she showed her gratitude in many ways. One afternoon back in the winter I met her on the Downs, and we had a ramble together, and unfortunately the Captain saw us."