When I got that letter begging
me to go to the Tanguishene River, to nurse Dennis who loved me still, my
heart sank. I said to myself I could not go; and Dennis and I must be
apart always to the end of time. But then I thought again. He was ill,
and his body was as broken as his mind. Well, since I could do his mind
no good, I would try to help his body. I could do that much for him. So I
went. But the letter to me had been long on the way, and when I got to
the Tanguishene River he was almost well."
She paused and rocked her body to and fro for a moment as though in pain.
"He wanted me to go back to him then. He said he had never cared for the
woman at Yargo, and that what he felt for me now was different from what
it had ever been. When he had settled accounts we could go back to the
ranch and be at peace. I knew what he meant by settling accounts, and it
frightened me. That is why I am here. I came to warn the man, Marchand,
for if Dennis kills him, then they will hang Dennis. Do you not see? This
is a country of law. I saw that Dennis had the madness in his brain, and
so I left him again in the evening of the day I found him, and came
here--it is a long way. Yesterday, M'sieu' Marchand laughed at me when I
warned him.
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