Part 42 (1/2)

She moaned piteously.

'Let me die here, Jim. Let me see Willie before I go and ask him to forgive his wretched mother.'

'You may die here,' said Jim, harshly; 'but you shall never see my boy.

You disowned him and he thinks you are dead.'

She was crying bitter tears of repentance, but they had come too late, and she was afraid to die without forgiveness on earth.

'Jim!' she said suddenly as she caught his arm. 'Jim, I dare not die without your forgiveness.'

There was such a look of horror in her eyes that even he was softened, and said quietly,--

'I will forgive you, Maud, freely forgive you; but you must never let Willie know, and he shall not see you.'

'Not even when I am dead?' she asked.

'No, not even then.'

She sobbed bitterly, and Sal, hearing her, felt the tears well up into her eyes.

'I never knew him to be cruel before,' said Sal to herself.

'One thing more,' said Jim Dennis. 'Who was the man?'

'Your friend, Jim. Your black-hearted, treacherous friend,' she answered.

'I had no friends,' he said.

'A man who called himself your friend. He was in Sydney. I met him. He was going to England, and offered to take me and spend his wealth with me, marry me when it was possible.'

Light was dawning upon Jim Dennis, and his hands clenched so that the nails bit into the flesh.

'It was Rodney Shaw,' she said.

Jim Dennis sprang up with an oath.

'By G.o.d! can such a villain live?' he cried.

'He had not seen me at Wanabeen, you recollect; he had gone to Sydney before I came here, and lived there some time before he went to England.

He is a cruel, heartless man, and ruined our lives. He deserves no pity.'

'He shall have none from me,' said Jim Dennis. 'I will flog him like a cowardly cur and then shoot him.'

'He is a dangerous man,' she said.

Jim Dennis laughed harshly. He was not afraid of such a man or a dozen of them.

'Sal,' he called, 'there is work for me to do before it is too late.