"
"God rest his soul, he was a good fellow and brave," said Johnstone
earnestly.
"I also have seen Wild Jack," said Betty, willing to turn the poor woman
from her troubles.
"Seen him! seen Wild Jack?" cried she.
"Aye, seen him and been his prisoner; and say who will to the contrary,
I have reason to maintain that he is a true gentleman."
"Is it so?" said Mr. Johnstone, smiling. "A cut-throat, a robber, a
highwayman, a true gentleman?"
Betty gave him an indignant glance. "I speak of him as I found him," she
said. "And we of the country have always known how to distinguish
between common malefactors and the gentlemen of the road."
"So, so!" answered Johnstone, still smiling. "And yet both end too often
on Tyburn Hill."
Betty turned pale and shivered. It seemed as if she gasped for breath;
she turned her large eyes on her lover and said, "Ah, these matters are
far too serious for so grim a jest."
But her eyes were caught and arrested by the look which met them; so
long, so burning with passionate admiration and love, with a strange
expression of exaltation, almost gratitude. Betty's heart beat fast. He
had forced her to love him, and such maidens as Betty Ives when they
give love at last, give life itself. Dame Rachel glanced from one to
another, then she rose quickly, and from a dark corner of the room
produced a pack of cards.
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