"Tell him that you ventured on to the road to see this strange cousin of yours, and that he recognised you and picked you up."
"But that would be a story!"
"Well, I will tell it for you, if you will forgive me afterwards. Do you think you will ever love me, Audrey?"
"I love you already, Cousin Nigel."
"Nigel, without the cousin."
"Nigel," she said.
And so, you see, the adventure ended happily for both of us, but I told my Uncle Mortimer, privately, exactly what had really occurred, in order that we might be on guard against the man Northfield. He, however, had had his lesson; and his wound, I suppose, not proving serious, he hid the scar and thought it best to keep a closed mouth. Indeed, not long after, he disappeared from the country, and was heard of later on in America, where I trust he was better appreciated than he ever was here.
As for Audrey, no sweeter woman ever breathed than my wife, and she has made up to me a thousand fold for thinking so lightly of me before she had ever seen my face. And for myself, though I have had many encounters since then and against heavier odds, none ever had so fair a reward.