I know it now, and
I'll go out with you to Vancouver."
"She loves me. She'll marry me. She'll go out to Vancouver!" cried Dick.
"It changes everything. I must go to her."
"You shall not go," said Austin.
"Shall not? Who dares prevent me?'
"I do. I hold you to your word."
"But, man alive! she loves me--don't you see? The bargain is dissolved.
This is none of my seeking. She comes of her own free will. I am
going to her."
Austin put both his hands affectionately on the big man's shoulders and
forced him into a chair.
"Listen to me just for one minute, Dick. Dick, you dare not marry. Don't
drive me to tell you the reason. Can't you see for yourself why I've
imposed this condition on you all along?"
"I know no reason," said Dick. "She loves me, and that is enough."
The greyness deepened over Austin's face and the pain in his eyes.
"I must speak, then, in plain terms. That horrible murder impulse is the
reason. Today, in a fit of frenzied jealousy, you would have killed me,
your brother.
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