The past is over; it is over forever. The law
may continue to hold me as your wife, but I am not your wife. The
records of the church may so name me, but they are false. A God of
love could never have linked me to such a brute--the very thought is
infamy. Do not touch me! Do not speak to me! I believe I could kill
you easier than I could ever again yield to you so much as a word."
She reeled as though about to fall, her hand pressed against her heart.
Before an arm could be out-stretched in support, she had rallied, and
turned away. With head lowered, her face shadowed by her hair she
walked slowly toward the cabin. No man in the group stirred until she
had disappeared. Then the sheriff fumblingly replaced his hat, his
eyes wandering in uncertainty from Farnham to Winston.
"By God!" he exclaimed, as though in relief, catching his breath
quickly and wiping his forehead. "By God! but that was fierce."
Recalling his own duty he reached out his hand and laid it heavily upon
the shoulder of the man standing next him.
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