Phil--"
For the first time there came a pleading light into Gregson's eyes
as he leaned across the table.
"Phil, if it wasn't for Eileen I would not be here. I thought that
she would kill herself when I told her as much of the story as I
knew. She told me what she had done; she confessed for her father.
In that hour of her agony I could not keep back my love. We
plotted. I forged a letter, and made it possible to accompany
Brokaw and Eileen up the Churchill. It was not my purpose to join
you, and so Eileen professed to be taken ill. We camped, back from
the river, and I sent our two Indians back to Churchill, for
Eileen and I wished to be alone with Brokaw in the terrible hour
that was coming. That is all. Everything is revealed. I have come
to you as quickly as I could, to find that Thorpe is dead. In my
own selfishness I would have shielded Brokaw, arguing that he
could pay Thorpe, and work honorably henceforth. You would never
have known. It is Eileen who makes this confession, not I. Phil,
her last words to me were these: 'You love me. Then you will tell
him all this. Only after this, if he shows us a mercy which we do
not deserve, can I be your wife.'
"There is only one other thing to add.
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