The shock was too much for me in my then weak and
unnerved condition. Without considering anything but the fact that he
never had known and never must, that I had been in the same house with
him for so long, I rushed back to the corner and into the arms of the
men who awaited me. How you came to be there, Mr. Blake, or why you
did not open the gate and follow, I cannot say."
"The gate was locked," returned that gentleman. "You remember it
closes with a spring, and can only be opened by means of a key which
I did not have."
"My father had it," she murmured; "he spent a whole week in the
endeavor to get hold of it, and finally succeeded on the evening of
the very day he used it. It was left in the lock I believe."
"So much for servants," I whispered to myself.
"The next morning," continued she, "they put the case very plainly
before me. I was at liberty to return at once to my home if I would
promise to work in their interest by making certain demands upon you
as your wife. All they wanted, said they, was a snug little sum and a
lift out of the country. If I would secure them these, they would
trouble me no more. But I could not concede to anything of that
nature, of course, and the consequence was these long weeks of
imprisonment and suspense; weeks that I do not now begrudge, seeing
they have brought me the assurance of your esteem and the knowledge,
that wherever I go, your thoughts will follow me with compassion if
not with love.
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