He learned the truth more from my silence than from
my replies, for I could not answer him."
"The brute! the miserable hound!" ejaculated Traverse.
"Oh, Doctor Rocke, I could not tell you the avalanche of abuse,
insult and invective that he hurled upon my defenseless head. He
accused me of more crimes than I had ever heard talk of. He told me
that my condition was an impossible one unless I had been false to
the memory of his brother; that I had dishonored his name, disgraced
his house and brought myself to shame; that I should leave the roof,
leave the neighborhood and die as I deserved to die, in a ditch! I
made no reply. I was crushed into silence under the weight of his
reproaches."
"The caitiff! The poltroon! Ah, poor stranger, why did you not leave
the house at once and throw yourself upon the protection of the
minister of your parish or some other kind neighbor?"
"Alas! I was a child, a widow and a foreigner all in one! I did not
know your land or your laws or your people. I was not hopeful or
confident; I had suffered so cruelly and I was overwhelmed by his
abuse."
"But did you not know, dear lady, that all his rage was aroused only
by the fact that the birth of your child would disinherit him?"
"Ah, no! I was not aware, at that time, that Gabriel Le Noir was a
villain. I thought his anger honest, though unjust, and I was as
ignorant as a child.
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