Madam coughed slightly, as though to give him the
signal; he soon reached her; and then they began to talk. I was hidden
by the trunk of the tree, and the shadow of the heavy boughs, reaching
nearly to the ground; so I heard every word they said, without being
discovered.'
"'What was it they said?'
"'I can not repeat their words, sir, but I can tell you what I learned
from their talk.'
"'Tell me,' I said.
"'First, I discovered that madam had been married to that man more than
a year before you saw her.'
"'Yes.'
"'Before which she had been tried, convicted, and confined for six
months in a prison in New York, as a thief. You turn pale, sir; shall I
stop?'
"'No, go on,' I said.
"'These facts,' continued Nighthawk, 'came out in a sort of quarrel
which madam had with the man. He reproached her with intending to
desert him--with loving you--and said he had not rescued her from
misery to be thus treated. She laughed, and replied that she was only
following a suggestion of his own. They were poor, they must live; he
had himself said that they must procure money either honestly or
dishonestly; and he had fully approved of the plan she had now
undertaken. _You_, sir--she added--were an "empty-headed fool,"--the
idea of her "loving" you was absurd!--but you were wealthy; immensely
wealthy; had made a will leaving her your entire property;--_if you
died suddenly on your wedding night_, she and himself would possess
Fonthill, and live in affluence.
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