It was Margaret who spoke the first.
"You must not do it, Betty," she said.

"Why, when the man found you out, he would kill you." But Betty took no heed of her, and thought on.

At length she looked up and answered: "Cousin, it was my vain folly that brought you all into this trouble, therefore I owe something to you, do I not?
I am not afraid of the man--he is afraid of me; and if it came to killing--why, let Inez lend me that knife of hers, and I think that perhaps I should give the first blow.

And--well, I think I love him, rascal though he is, and, afterwards, perhaps we might make it up, who can say ?--while, if not---- But tell me, you, Inez, should I be his legal wife according to the law of this land ?" "Assuredly," answered Inez, "if a priest married you and he placed the ring upon your hand and named you wife.

Then, when once the words of blessing have been said, the Pope alone can loose that knot, which may be risked, for there would be much to explain, and is this a tale that Morella, a good servant of the Church, would care to take to Rome ?" "It would be a trick," broke in Margaret--"a very ugly trick." "And what was it he played on me and you ?" asked Betty.