"Yes, Hannah, to tell the truth, I did think so then; I was but a boy,
you know; and I had that fatal weakness of which I told you--that which
dreaded to inflict pain and delighted to impart joy. So I asked her to
marry me. But the penniless Countess of Hurstmonceux was the sole
heiress of the wealthy old Jew, Jacob D'Israeli. And he had set his mind
upon her marrying a gouty marquis, and thus taking one step higher in
the peerage; so of course he would not listen to my proposal, and he
threatened to disinherit his daughter if she married me. Then we did
what so many others in similar circumstances do--we married privately.
Soon after this I was summoned home to take possession of my estates. So
I left England; but not until I had discovered the utter unworthiness of
the siren whom I was so weak as to make my wife. I did not reproach the
woman, but when I sailed from Liverpool it was with the resolution never
to return."
"Well, sir! even supposing you were drawn into a foolish marriage with
an artful woman, and had a good excuse for deserting her, was that any
reason why you should have committed the crime of marrying Nora?" cried
the woman fiercely.
"Hannah, it was not until after I had read an account of a railway
collision, in which it was stated that the Countess of Hurstmonceux was
among the killed that I proposed for Nora. Oh, Hannah, as the Lord in
heaven hears me, I believed myself to be a free, single man, a widower,
when I married Nora! My only fault was too great haste. I believed Nora
to be my lawful wife until the unexpected arrival of the Countess of
Hurstmonceux, who had been falsely reported among the killed."
"If this is so," said Hannah, beginning to relent, "perhaps after all
you are more to be pitied than blamed."
"Thank you, thank you, Hannah, for saying that! But tell me, does she
believe that I willfully deceived her? Yet why should I ask? She must
think so! appearances are so strong against me," he sadly reflected.
"But she does not believe it; her last prayer was that she might see you
once more before she died, to tell you that she knew you were not to
blame," wept Hannah.
"Bless her! bless her!" exclaimed the young man.
Hannah, whose eyes had never, during this interview, left the face of
Nora, now murmured: "She is reviving again; will you see her now?"