"Madam," he said hoarsely, "if I admit everything what will you do?"
"Nothing," said Maud Barrington coldly. "On condition that within a
month you leave Silverdale."
Ferris stared at her. "You can't mean that. You see, I'm fond of
farming, and nobody would give me what the place cost me. I couldn't
live among the outside settler fellows."
The girl smiled coldly. "I mean exactly what you heard, and, if you
do not enlighten them, the settlers would probably not object to you.
Your farm will be taken over at what you gave for it."
Ferris stood up. "I am going to make a last appeal. Silverdale's
the only place fit for a gentleman to live in in Canada, and I want
to stay here. You don't know what it would cost me to go away, and
I'd do anything for reparation--send a big check to a Winnipeg
hospital and starve myself to make up for it if that would content
you. Only, don't send me away."
His tone grew almost abject as he proceeded, and while Miss
Barrington's eyes softened, her niece's heart grew harder because of
it, as she remembered that he had brought a strong man down.
"No," she said dryly. "That would punish your mother and sisters
from whom you would cajole the money. You can decide between leaving
Silverdale, and having the story, and the proof of it, put into the
hands of Colonel Barrington."
She sat near an open window regarding him with quiet scorn, and the
light that shone upon her struck a sparkle from her hair and set the
rounded cheek and neck gleaming like ivory.
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