You are now of age, and
have a right to listen to my defense, and my suit for your heart and
hand."
"Are you mad? Can you still suppose me ignorant of your true character and
your history for years past? Know then that I am fully acquainted with
them; that I know you to be a lover of vice and the society of the
vicious--a drunkard, profane, a gambler, and one who has stained his hands
with the blood of a fellow-creature," she added with a shudder. "I pray
God you may repent and be forgiven; but you are not and can never be
anything to me."
"So with all your piety you forsake your friends when they get into
trouble," he remarked with a bitter sneer.
"Friend of mine you never were," she answered quietly; "I know it was my
fortune and not myself you really wanted. But though it were true that
you loved me as madly and disinterestedly as you professed, had I known
your character, never, _never_ should I have held speech with you, much
less admitted you to terms of familiarity--a fact which I look back upon
with the deepest mortification. Let me pass, sir, and never venture to
approach me again."
"No you don't, my haughty miss! I'm not done with you yet," he exclaimed
between his clenched teeth, and seizing her rudely by the arm as she tried
to step past him.
Pages:
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120