human
Up to ten o'clock last night I loved you madly, despairingly, and would have risked my soul to gain your hand. But since I fell --he passed his hand across his forehead in a bewildered manner--
gpt
And for the better, Bella assured him.
human
Come, don't think anything more about the matter. I have rung the bell for tea.
gpt
I rung the bell also last night. It brought in Mrs. Queen, very fortunately, or I might have bled to death, Miss Faith.
human
Why do you call me Miss Faith?
gpt
Because you are Miss Faith, said the preacher, lifting his haggard face to her own in some surprise.
human
Did not the black man tell you?
gpt
How do you know that I have anything to do with the black man?
human
I have seen Mr. Lister with him. I saw you all three talking on the common. Oh, Miss Faith, you don't know how I have followed and spied on you!
gpt
Did you listen?
human
No; I did not fall so low as that, but I followed and watched.
gpt
Why?
human
Because I loved you. That is all over now; I shall never follow or watch you again. I am glad that the black man threw me down last night. When I found this morning that my prayers had been answered and that I no longer suffered from this mad passion, I resolved to say nothing about what had taken place.
gpt
And so invented the story of the epileptic fit?
human
Yes; but the truth is----
gpt
I know the truth: Durgo told everything to me and to Mr. Lister this morning, or rather this afternoon; also Durgo gave me the papers. I have read them, and know that I am not Captain Huxham's daughter. By the way --Bella looked sharply at the preacher--
human
Yes, if you will have me for a friend,
gpt
By all means, now that you love me no longer. Be my friend, --she held out her hand, which Pence grasped feebly--
human
From your father's--I mean from Captain Huxham's safe.
gpt
Then you were in the room on that night?
human
Yes. I saw the body.
gpt
And you said nothing.
human
No. Had I done so, I should have incriminated myself. When I entered the study Captain Huxham was lying dead under the desk.
gpt
Did you see anyone about?
human
I saw no one, not even Mr. Lister, whom I had followed into the house.
gpt
Just explain precisely what you did see,
human
I was watching the house as usual on that night because I loved you, he said, in a slow, feeble way, for he was still weak from loss of blood.
gpt
I beheld Mr. Lister coming towards me. He brushed past me, and entered the Manor by the front door. I watched for his return, intending to speak to him. But he never came out.
human
He never came out?
gpt
No. I don't know how long I watched; but finally I grew tired, and stole up to the house. The front door was ajar. I saw that the study door was also open, so I went in. Then I saw Captain Huxham lying dead and bleeding, with the safe open and the papers in disorder. In the safe, or, rather, tumbled on the floor before the safe was a bundle of bank-notes. The Accuser of the Brethren tempted me, said Silas, with the perspiration beading his high forehead,
human
Why did you fly?
gpt
I thought I heard a noise, and feared lest I should be accused of killing Captain Huxham. I ran out of the study, and out of the house, and down the path between the standing corn, as though the devil was after me. But he was not after me, wailed Pence, standing up,
human
and he threw a packet of bank-notes on the table with feverish eagerness.
gpt
It was all for your sake!
human
The man you mistook for Mr. Lister was his father, she said quietly;
gpt
I saw no one. Did Lister's father kill Captain Huxham?
human
Can't you tell?
gpt
I have told everything, said Pence, with an air of fatigue;