"
He sank with a deep groan on to the settee, and buried his face
in his manacled hands. For five minutes he was silent. Then he
raised his face once more, and spoke with the cold composure of
despair.
"I have nothing to hide from you, gentlemen," said he. "If I
shot the man he had his shot at me, and there's no murder in
that. But if you think I could have hurt that woman, then you
don't know either me or her. I tell you, there was never a man in
this world loved a woman more than I loved her. I had a right to
her. She was pledged to me years ago. Who was this Englishman
that he should come between us? I tell you that I had the first
right to her, and that I was only claiming my own."
"She broke away from your influence when she found the
man that you are," said Holmes, sternly. "She fled from Amer-
ica to avoid you, and she married an honourable gentleman in
England. You dogged her and followed her and made her life a
misery to her, in order to induce her to abandon the husband
whom she loved and respected in order to fly with you, whom
she feared and hated.
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