Do I not know
how little you care for the risk--how little you can lose by it?"
"True, I can lose little, but I have other reasons; and, however it may
surprise you, those reasons spring from a desire for your good rather
than my own."
"For my good?" replied the other, with an inquiring sneer.
"Yes, for your good, or rather for Lucy's. You wish to marry her. She is
a sweet child, and an orphan. She merits a far better man than you; and,
bound as I am to give her to you, I am deeply bound to myself and to
her, to make you as worthy of her as possible, and to give her as many
chances for happiness as I can."
An incredulous smile played for a second upon the lips of the outlaw,
succeeded quickly, however, by the savage expression, which, from being
that most congenial to his feelings, had become that most habitual to
his face.
"I can not be deceived by words like these," was his reply, as he
stepped quickly from under the boughs which had sheltered them and made
toward the house.
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