Part 34 (1/2)

He stretched out suppliant hands to her; there were tears now in his eyes ”Of your charity, Rosa, when at last Oliver intervened:

”I think you are wearying the lady,” he said, and stirred him with his foot ”Relate to us instead so accidents

They areElucidate the accident, by which you had me kidnapped to be sold into slavery Tell us of the accident by which you succeeded to my property Expound to the full the accidental circuhout you have been the unfortunate victim

Come, man, ply your wits 'Twill make a pretty tale”

And then came Jasper to announce that Ali waited with the brazier and the heated er needed,” said Oliver ”Take this slave hence with you Bid Ali to take charge of hialeasse Aith him”

Lionel rose to his feet, his face ashen ”Wait! Ah, wait! Rosaht hi hirowled, and Jasper took the wretch by the shoulders and urged hi Rosamund and Oliver alone with the truth under the stars of Barbary

CHAPTER XII THE SUBTLETY OF FENZILEH

Oliver considered the wo on the divan, her hands locked, her face set and stony, her eyes lowered He sighed gently and turned away He paced to the parapet and looked out upon the city bathed in the white glare of the full risen moon There arose thence a huhtingale sos by the pool in the valley

Now that truth had been dragged from its well, and tossed, as it were, into Rosamund's lap, he felt none of the fierce exultation which he had conceived that such an hour as thishim Rather, indeed, was he saddened and oppressed To poison the unholy cup of joy which he had i with such thirsty zest there was that discovery of a measure of justification for her attitude towards him in her conviction that his disappearance was explained by flight

He eighed down by a sense that he had put hieance he had overreached himself; and he found the fruits of it, which had see to ashes in hishe stood there, the silence between theth he stirred, turned from the parapet, and paced slowly back until he careat height

”At last you have heard the truth,” he said And as she made no answer he continued: ”I am thankful it was surprised out of hiht have concluded that pain ringing a false confession from him” He paused, but still she did not speak; indeed, she n that she had heard him ”That,” he concluded, ”was the man whom you preferred to me Faith, you did not flatter me, as perhaps you may have learnt”

At last she was moved from her silence, and her voice came dull and hard ”I have learnt how little there is to choose between you,” she said ”It was to have been expected I ht have knoo brothers could not have been so dissi a deal, and swiftly!”

It was a speech that angered hirowing in hi?”

”Knowledge of the ways of lea you as e of woht me To have believed me what you believed me--me whom you conceived yourself to love!” He felt, perhaps the need to repeat it that he rievance well before hisof you it is that you will not shame me with the reminder”

”Of your faithlessness?” he asked ”Of your disloyal readiness to believe the worst evil ofbelieved that I loved you That is the thought that sha else in life could shame me, as not even the slave-market and all the insult to which you have submitted me could shame me You taunt me with my readiness to believe evil of you”

”I dounder the pitiless lash of her scorn ”I lay to your charge the wasted years of my life, all the evil that has followed out of it, all that I have suffered, all that I have lost, all that I aly e?” she asked him

”I do” He was very vehement ”Had you not used me as you did, had you not lent a ready ear to lies, that whelp ths, nor should I ever have afforded him the opportunity”

She shi+fted on the cushi+ons of the divan and turned her shoulder to him

”All this is very idle,” she said coldly Yet perhaps because she felt that she had need to justify herself she continued: ”If, after all, I was so ready to believe evil of you, it is that my instincts must have warned me of the evil that was ever in you You have proved to ht that it was not you who murdered Peter; but to attain that proof you have done a deed that is even fouler and more shameful, a deed that reveals to the full the blackness of your heart Have you not proved yourself a ain in her sudden passion ”Are you not--you that were born a Cornish Christian gentleade and a pirate? Have you not sacrificed your very God to your vengeful lust?”

Hebefore her denunciation, and when she had ended on that note of question he counter-questioned her

”And your instincts had forewarned you of all this? God's life, woman!