In those moments, when his heart
seemed to have stopped beating, Carrigan was staring at the other,
but his mind had shot beyond him--to the woman who was his wife.
Marie-Anne AUDEMARD--the wife of Black Roger! He wanted to cry out
against the possibility of such a fact, yet he sat like one struck
dumb, as the monstrous truth took possession of his brain and a
whirlwind of understanding swept upon him. He was thinking
quickly, and with a terrific lack of sentiment now. Opposite him
sat Black Roger, the wholesale murderer. Marie-Anne was his wife.
Carmin Fanchet, sister of a murderer, was simply one of his kind.
And Bateese, the man-gorilla, and the Broken Man, and all the
dark-skinned pack about them were of Black Roger's breed and kind.
Love for a woman had blinded him to the facts which crowded upon
him now. Like a lamb he had fallen among wolves, and he had tried
to believe in them. No wonder Bateese and the man he had known as
St. Pierre had betrayed such merriment at times!
A fighting coolness possessed him as he spoke to Black Roger.
"I will admit this is a surprise. And yet you have cleared up a
number of things very quickly.
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