'
'Your life!' I gasped.
'Oh, yes, he would not stick at that!' she cried. 'He killed my mother.
I do not say that he slaughtered her, but I mean that his cold brutality
broke her gentle heart. Now perhaps you begin to understand why I can
talk of him in this fashion.'
As she spoke I could see the secret broodings of years, the bitter
resentments crushed down in her silent soul, rising suddenly to flush
her dark cheeks and to gleam in her splendid eyes. I realised at that
moment that in that tall slim figure there dwelt an unconquerable
spirit.
'You must think that I speak very freely to you, since I have only known
you a few hours, Cousin Louis,' said she.
'To whom should you speak freely if not to your own relative?'
'It is true; and yet I never expected that I should be on such terms
with you. I looked forward to your coming with dread and sorrow.
No doubt I showed something of my feelings when my father brought you
in.'
'Indeed you did,' I answered. 'I feared that my presence was unwelcome
to you.'
'Most unwelcome, both for your own sake and for mine,' said she.
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