'I did not at the unlucky moment know what it was that aroused the
evil spirit within me; but, oh, Aster, it was in the depths of the
sheltering forest, wounded, and set upon by the bloodhounds of the
law, I discovered first the reason. Ah, my darling, it was then, and
then for the first time only, that I knew how dear you were to me;
that above all things in heaven or on earth I loved my own sweet
Aster. But how helpless now, how agonizing was that love which my
misfortune had fanned into such a sudden flame.
'Well, as you know, my beloved, I escaped from the officers of the
law, and the impression is abroad that I am in one of the neighbouring
States of the Union. I am in Upper Canada and quite near to you, "so
near and yet so far." Where my place of hiding is I may not tell you.
Yet this much, Aster, I may say, I am not here of my own choice; I was
taken here by force, and by force I am detained. Ah, may I hope that
the day yet shall come, when it will be meet for me to present myself
to my own darling, the first and only love of my life.
'Yet, why, Aster, should I address you thus? I am a murderer before
the tribunals; and whatever I be I am perhaps only a friend in your
eyes.
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