. "No, no, Peter, it
was you who were drowned--they found all your things and saw where you
had been pushed over, and--but you weren't drowned! They only thought
it--they believed it--"

He put his hand to his head as if to brush away the confusion which
staggered him. "Yes, Richard lay dead--and they found him,--but why
did they hunt for him? And I--I--living--why didn't they hunt me,--and
he, dead and lying there--why did they hunt him? But my father would
believe the worst of him rather than to see himself disgraced in his
son. Don't cry, little Betty, don't cry. You've had too much to bear.
Sit here beside me and I'll tell you all about it. That's why I came
back."

"B--b--ut if you weren't drowned, why--why didn't you come home and
say so? Didn't you ever see the papers and how they were hunting
Richard all over the world? I knew you were dead, because I knew you
never would be so cruel as to leave every one in doubt and your father
in sorrow--just because he had quarreled with you. It might have
killed your mother--if the Elder had let her know."

"I can't tell you all my reasons, Betty; mostly they were coward's
reasons. I did my best to leave evidence that I had been pushed over
the bluff, because it seemed the only way to hide myself. I did my
best to make them think me dead, and never thought any one could be
harmed by it, because I knew him to be dead; so I just thought we
would both be dead so far as the world would know,--and as for you,
dear,--I learned on that fatal night that you did not love me--and
that was another coward's reason why I wished to be dead to you all."
He began pacing the room, and Betty sat on the edge of the narrow jail
bedstead and watched him with tearful eyes. "It was true, Betty? You
did not really love me?"

"Peter! Didn't you ever see the papers? Didn't you ever know all about
the search for you and how he disappeared, too? Oh, Peter! And it was
supposed he killed you and pushed you over the bluff and then ran
away. Oh, Peter! But it was kept out of the home paper by the Elder so
your mother should not know--and Peter--didn't you know Richard
lived?"

"Lived? lived?" He lifted his clasped hands above his head, and they
trembled. "Lived? Betty, say it again!"

"Yes, Peter. I saw him and I know--"

"Oh, God, make me know it. Make me understand." He fell on his knees
beside her and hid his face in the scant jail bedding, and his frame
shook with dry sobs. "I was a coward.