e you."

"Ha! ha! ha! An accidental circumstance!" rejoined she, with a
contemptuous laugh; "truly a rare accident! It was guilt, sir. I saw
him with his arms around her--with my own eyes I saw this. What farther
proof needed I of his perfidy?"

"All that you saw, I admit, but--"

"More than saw it: I heard of his faithlessness. Did not she herself
declare it--in Swampville? elsewhere!--boasted of it even to my own
sister! More still: another was witness to his vile conduct--had often
seen him in her company. Ha! little dreamed he, while dallying in the
woods with his red-skinned squaw, that the earth has ears and the trees
have tongues. The deceiver did not think of that!"

"Fair Marian, they are foul calumnies; and whoever has given utterance
to them did so to deceive you. Who, may I ask, was that other witness
who has so misled you!"

"Oh! it matters not now--another villain like himself--one who--O God!
I cannot tell you the horrid history--it is too black to be believed."

"Nay, you may tell it me. I half know it already; but there are some
points I wish explained--for your sake--for Wingrove's--for the sake of
your sister--"

"My sister! how can it concern her? Surely it does not? Explain your
meaning, sir."

I endeavoured to avoid the look of earnest inquiry that was turned upon
me. I was not yet prepared to enter upon the explanation. "Presently,"
I said, "you shall know all that has transpired since your departure
from Tennessee. But first tell me of yourself. You have promised me?
I ask it not from motives of idle curiosity. I have freely confessed to
you my love for your sister Lilian. It is that which has brought me
here--it is that which impels me to question you."

"All this is mystery to me," replied the huntress, with a look of
extreme bewilderment. "Indeed, sir, you appear to know all--more than
I--but in regard to myself, I believe you are disinterested, and I shall
willingly answer any question you may think proper to ask me. Go on! I
shall conceal nothing."

"Thanks!" said I. "I think I can promise that you shall have no reason
to regret your confidence."

CHAPTER EIGHTY FOUR.

PLAYING CONFESSOR.

I was not without suspicion as to the motive of her _complaisance_: in
fact, I understood it. Despite the declamatory denial she had given to
its truth, my defence of Wingrove, I saw, had made an impression upon
her. It had no doubt produced pleasant reflections;