Only you and I know!" She paused.
He thrust out a hand as though to stay her speech, but she went on again
"Go away from me. You have spoiled my life; you have spoiled my boy's
life, and now he fights you. I give him no help save in one direction. I
give to him something his reputed father withheld from him. Don't you
think it a strange thing"--her voice was thick with feeling--"that he
never could bear to take money from John Grier, and that, even as a
child, gifts seemed to trouble him. I think he wanted to give back again
all that John Grier had ever paid out to him or for him; and now, at
last, he fights the man who gave him birth! I wanted to tell John Grier
all, but I did not because I knew it would spoil his life and my boy's
life. It was nothing to me whether I lived or died. But I could not bear
Carnac should know. He was too noble to have his life spoiled."
Barode Barouche drew himself together. Here was a deep, significant
problem, a situation that needed more expert handling than he had ever
shown. As he stood by the table, the dim light throwing haggard
reflections on her face, he had a feeling that she was more than normal.
He saw her greater than he had ever imagined her.
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