His face turned ghastly; he lay back in his chair,
uttering groans of despair; in short, it had completely prostrated him.
I never knew how deeply he was attached to you, Lionel, until that
night."
"He believed the story?" said Lionel.
"Of course he believed it," assented John Massingbird. "I told it him as
a certainty, as a thing about which there was no admission for the
slightest doubt: I assumed it, myself, to be a certainty. When he was a
little recovered, he took possession of the glove, and bound me to
secrecy. You would never have forgotten it, Lionel, had you seen his
shaking hands, his imploring eyes, heard his voice of despair; all
lifted to beseech secrecy for you--for the sake of his dead brother--for
the name of Verner--for his own sake. I heartily promised it; and he
handed me over a more liberal sum than even I had expected, enjoined me
to depart with the morrow's dawn, and bade me Godspeed. I believe he was
glad that I was going, lest I might drop some chance word during the
present excitement of Deerham, and by that means direct suspicion to
you.
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