Nighthawk, who had followed
me to the field, and become a secret agent of General Stuart, warned me
of all this--and one day, gave me information more startling still. And
this brings me, my dear Surry, to the last point in my narrative, I now
enter upon matter with which you have been personally 'mixed up.'
"On that night when I attacked Darke in his house in Pennsylvania,
Swartz stole a paper from madam--the certificate of her marriage with
Mr. Mortimer-Darke, or Darke-Mortimer. The object of Swartz was, to
sell the paper to me for a large sum, as he had gotten an inkling of
the state of affairs, and my relation with madam. Well, Nighthawk
reported this immediately, made an appointment to meet Swartz in the
Wilderness, and many times afterward attempted to gain possession of
the paper, which Swartz swore was a _bona fide_ certificate of the
marriage of these two persons _before the year_ 1856, when I first met
them.
"You, doubtless, understand now, my dear Surry, my great anxiety to
gain possession of that paper. Or, if you do not, I have only to state
one fact--that will explain all. I am engaged to be married to Miss
Conway, and am naturally anxious to have the proof in my possession
that I have not _one wife_ yet living! I know _that woman_ well. She
will stop at nothing.
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