"
"Explain. You talk in enigmas."
"Listen, then. I, too, believe Ida to be living. Withdraw the
opposition you have twice made to my suit, promise me that you will
reward my affection by your land if I succeed, and I will devote
myself to the search for Ida, resting day nor night till I am able
to place her in your arms. Then, if I succeed, may I claim my
reward?"
"What reason have you for thinking you should find her?" asked Mrs.
Clifton, with the same inexplicable manner.
"I think I have got a clew."
"And are you not generous enough to exert yourself without demanding
of me this sacrifice?"
"No, Rose," he said, "I am not unselfish enough."
"But, consider a moment. Will not even that be poor atonement enough
for the wrong you have done me,"--she spoke rapidly now,--"for the
grief and loneliness and sorrow which your wickedness and cruelty
have wrought?"
"I do not understand you," he said, turning pale.
"It is enough to say that I have seen the woman who is now in
prison,--your paid agent,--and that I need no assistance to recover
Ida. She is in my house."
What more could be said?
John Somerville rose, and left the room. His grand scheme had
failed.
CHAPTER XXVII.
CONCLUSION.
I AM beginning to feel anxious about Jack," said Mrs. Crump. "It's
almost a week since we heard from him.
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