"Perhaps--perhaps there is someone else? Someone of the other women
here?" he suggested, moodily.
"Yes, there is someone else," she said, with the same calm decision.
"No, it is not one of the women here; it is a girl in the place; a
farmer's daughter, I think. It is only a _liaison_, a vulgar
intrigue--"
He uttered an exclamation.
"And yet _that_ doesn't cure you!"
She shook her head and smiled.
"No; my case is incurable. Father, if he were engaged to anyone of the
women here, to someone his equal, I should still love him and want him;
yes, and move heaven and earth to get him. But this is only a
flirtation with some country girl--she meets him on the hill-side by
the river--anywhere. I have seen them, at a distance, once or twice.
She is of no importance. She has caught his fancy, and will soon fail
to hold it."
She waved her hand as if she were moving the obstacle aside. Her father
stared at her in a kind of stupefaction.
"My girl, don't you know what you are asking for? A life of
wretchedness and misery; the hell of being married to a man who doesn't
love you."
She laughed and drew herself up, her eyes flashing, a warm glow on her
cheeks.
Pages:
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322