You're not going to deny that? You
can't deny it!"
Dick made a quick gesture of protest. For a moment the tortured soul
of the man looked out of his eyes. "Does that make it any better?" he
said harshly.
"In my opinion, yes." Fielding spoke with decision. "She may have taken
refuge with Saltash, but that doesn't prove anything--except that the
poor girl had no one else to turn to. You had failed her--or anyhow you
didn't offer to stand by."
"I couldn't!" The words came jerkily, as if wrung from him by main
force. "For one thing--the men were out of hand, and it was as much as
I could do to hold them. She told them, I tell you--stood up and told
them straight out--who she was. And they loathe the whole crowd. It
was madness."
"Pretty sublime madness!" commented the squire. "And then Saltash took
her away. Was that it?"
"Yes." Dick spoke with intense bitterness. "It was the chance he was
waiting for. Of course he seized it. Any blackguard would."
"But you thought she might have come here?" pursued the squire.
"I thought it possible, yes. I told Yardley it was so. He of course
sneered at the bare idea. I nearly choked him for it.
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