Then she looked past him,
and tilted her chin forward.
"You... you are quite insufferable," she said. "I beg that you
will let me pass."
He stepped aside, and with the broad feathered hat which he still
held in his hand, he waved her on towards the house.
"I'll not be detaining you any longer, ma'am. After all, the cursed
thing I did for nothing can be undone. Ye'll remember afterwards
that it was your hardness drove me."
She moved to depart, then checked, and faced him again. It was she
now who was on her defence, her voice quivering with indignation.
"You take that tone! You dare to take that tone!" she cried,
astounding him by her sudden vehemence. "You have the effrontery
to upbraid me because I will not take your hands when I know how
they are stained; when I know you for a murderer and worse?"
He stared at her open-mouthed.
"A murderer- I?" he said at last.
"Must I name your victims? Did you not murder Levasseur?"
"Levasseur?" He smiled a little. "So they've told you about that!"
"Do you deny it?"
"I killed him, it is true.
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