"I put her from my heart for the Saviour's sake," said Shiana. "I could not do such a wrong to such a woman. There is the whole case for you. If it was you that put her in my way, it is you yourself that have brought defeat upon yourself. You said you failed to bend or turn her will. It was not a wise thing for you to try your hand against her in this business. You ought to have known her of old. You thought to get a grip of us both, and there is a firm grip upon yourself now."
"You are wrong," said the Black Man. "She is not the cause of the plot's going against me, but you. She would have married you at once if you had asked her to marry you. But what am I saying! It was not necessary for you to ask her. She was so much out of her wits through love of you that she did a thing which I did not think she could have done, whatever might happen to her. She asked you to marry her and you refused her! Confound you, what sort of man are you I It was your act that destroyed me. The nobleness of that act it was that destroyed me. To put that woman from your heart as you did, rather than do wrong. I wonder if there is another man living who could do the like! That is what destroyed me. That is what put me here and you there."
"It has happened very well," said Shiana. "I here and you there. I find no fault with the arrangement, whoever is the cause of it."
"Not so with me," said the Black Man.
"Let each one praise his luck as he finds it," said Shiana.
"Here! here! Let me go!" said the Black Man. "The mischief is on this place, it is so
