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288 when it would be told to her? When she first heard of the bond she said it was a noble bond and a holy bond. What would she say now if she were told what sort it was, and what was the cause of it? If he were to tell her about the purse and about the Black Man and about the bargain, perhaps she would conceive a hatred for himself, and that she would not come to see him any more. And how could he explain and make clear to her what sort the bond was, without telling her the whole matter? On the other hand, how could he remain any longer without telling her that there was a misunderstanding in her mind concerning the bond that was upon him? When he told her the first day that the bond was upon him, she took the matter in a sense that was at variance with the truth. He left it to her in that way at the time, because he thought that the end of the thirteen years would put an end to his own life, and that then it would be no matter what sort of bond it had been nor what had been the cause or the source of it. But here was the whole thing now on a different footing. He could not possibly leave the wrong impression on her mind any longer. There was no escape for him from giving her the truth of the matter as soon as possible. It was about all this work that he had to do that he used to be thinking and reflecting, while she used to be telling him the extraordinary symptoms that accompanied the illness he had had, and the strength that was in him, when four men used to have enough to do to keep him from jumping out of bed.

The day he was west at the house with her, to tell her that he was bound, before God, never