going to
tell her some day, but the time hadn't come. She said if she had known of
it she would never have married me. I didn't realize then--how could
I?--how hard it hit her. And I made her understand that having married
me--it was irrevocable. That was why she ran away with Saltash. She
didn't--trust me--any longer."

"But, my good fellow, what in heaven's name is this awful thing that even
I don't know?" demanded the squire. "Don't tell me there has ever been
any damn trouble with another woman!"

"No--no!" Dick broke into a laugh that was inexpressibly painful to hear.
"There has never been any other woman for me. What do I care for women?
Do you think because I've made a blasted fool of myself over one woman
that I--"

"Shut up, Dick!" Curtly the squire checked him. "You're not to say
it--even to me. Tell me this other thing about yourself--the thing I
don't know!"

"Oh, that! That's nothing, sir, nothing--at least you won't think it so.
It's only that during the past few years some books have been published
by one named Dene Strange that have attracted attention in certain
quarters."

"I've read 'em all," said the squire. "Well?"

"I wrote them," said Dick; "that's all."

"You!" Fielding stared. "You, Dick!"

"Yes, I. I meant to have told you, but so long as my boy lived, my job
seemed to be here, so I kept it to myself. And then--when she came--she
told me she hated the man who wrote those books for being cynical--and
merciless. So I wrote another to make her change her mind about me before
she knew. It is only just published. And she found out before she read
it. That's all," Dick said again with the shadow of a smile. "She found
out this evening. It was a shock to her--naturally. It's been a
succession of obstacles all through--a perpetual struggle against odds.
Well, it's over. At least we know what we're up against now. There will
be no more illusions of any sort from to-day on." He paused, stood a
moment as if bracing himself, then turned. "Well, I'm going, sir. Come if
you really must, but--I don't advise it."

"I am coming," said the squire briefly. His hand went from Dick's
shoulder to his arm and gave it a hard squeeze. "Confound you! What do
you take me for?" he said.

Dick's hand came swiftly to his. "I take you for the best friend a man
ever had, sir," he said.

"Pooh!" said the squire.

CHAPTER IX

THE FREE PARDON

Ten minutes later they went down the dripping avenue in t