But, he kept saying to himself, things might have been worse with him,
very much worse, but for Nance and Bernel. And before long, any day, the
matter might be cleared up and himself reinstated in the opinion of the
Sark men.
Even that would leave much to be desired, but possibly, he thought, if
they found they had sorely misjudged him in this matter, they might
realize that they had done so in other matters also, and that he had
only been striving to do his duty as he saw it.
And then, wherever else his thoughts led him, there was always Nance,
and the thought of Nance always set his heart aglow and braced him to
patient endurance and hope.
He retraced, again and again, all the ways they had travelled together
in these later days, recalled her every word and look, felt again the
trembling of her hand--for him--on the Coupee, heard again the tremors
of her voice as she urged him to safety. And those sweet ingenuous
kisses she had given him! Yes, indeed, he had much to be grateful for,
if some things to cavil at, in fortune's dealings.
But, behind all his fair white thought of Nance, was always the black
background of the whole circumstances of the case, and the grim fact of
Tom Hamon's death, and he pondered this last with knitted brows from
every point of view, and strove in vain for a gleam of light on the
darkness.
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