Indeed, she was prepared
for some such result, but it did not come. On the contrary, his
answer was almost mild, though tinged for the first time with a
touch of that biting sarcasm for which he had once been famous.
"If they had not THOUGHT!" he repeated. "If you had said if they
had not KNOWN, then I might indeed have smelt danger. People THINK
strange things. Perhaps YOU think them, too."
"I?" The moment was critical. She saw now that he was sounding
her,--had been sounding her from the first. Should she let
everything go and let him know her mind, or should she continue to
conceal it? In either course lay danger, if not to herself and
Reuther, then to himself and Oliver. She decided for the truth.
Subterfuge had had its day. The menace of the future called for
the strongest weapons which lie at the hand of man. She,
therefore, answered:
"Yes; I have been thinking, and this is the result: You must
either explain publicly and quite satisfactorily to the people of
this town, the mystery of your long separation from Oliver and the
life you have since led in this trebly barred house, or accept the
opprobrium of such accusations as we have listened to to-day.
There is no middle course, Judge Ostrander. I who have loved
Oliver almost like a son;--who have a daughter who not only loves
him but regards him as a perfect model of noble manhood, tell you
so, though it breaks my heart to do it. I cannot see you both fall
headlong to destruction for lack of understanding the nearness or
the depth of the precipice you are approaching.
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