Thrasher looked so much displeased, that Mrs. Mason angrily commanded the little girl to go and shake hands with him, though all the while she had an evident enjoyment of his discomfiture.
"Do as I bid you, Rose, or I will shut you up for the day. Go, I am very angry with you."
Thus commanded, the child raised her head, and walked slowly toward Thrasher, still keeping her face averted.
He took her hand, spoke pleasantly, and tried to kiss her, but that she would by no means permit.
"Are you sorry I have come, Rose?" he asked.
"Yes," she replied, honestly.
"And you wont kiss me?"
"No; you can get me whipped if you want to, but it wont do any good. I wont kiss anybody but my own pa when he comes."
"Rose, Rose!" expostulated her mother, losing a little of her bright color.
"Obedience does not appear to be one of her virtues," Thrasher said, smiling even through his agitation.
"I never saw her behave so before," replied Mrs. Mason; "she is generally very tractable. Go out of the room, Rose, and don"t speak to me again to-day."
The child broke away from Thrasher, and ran out of the room with a loud burst of sobs, leaving them both disconcerted.
"You should not have allowed her to dislike me so, Ellen," he said, after an instant.
"Dear me, I cannot control the child"s fancies. Do you think the whole world must be in love with you?"
"I should be satisfied if I only felt certain that you cared for me,"
replied Thrasher, earnestly.
She rose and gave him a look of coquettish defiance.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"To call Mrs. Prior."
"What for, I should like to know?"
"To bring you back to your senses, of course."
"You will drive me out of them!" he exclaimed, catching her hand. "Do listen to me, Ellen."
"Yes; well--I am listening."
"Tell me that you love me--even yet I cannot feel certain--you are so restless, so capricious."
"Certainly I had better call Mrs. Prior."
"Hang Mrs. Prior."
"That would be very cruel; besides, I should lose my French teacher."
"Let us start for Paris. You can finish your studies there."
"Thank you; I am quite comfortable where I am. I believe I am afraid of the water."
"You! the bravest woman I ever met!"
"But I have reason to dread the sea."
This time there was no affectation in the shudder with which she broke off--her husband"s memory for a moment pierced even her vanity and egotism like a blow. Thrasher grew pale with jealousy and a thousand feelings more painful still.
"Let us think only of the future," he said.
"Well, what of that?" she asked, forcing those sad thoughts aside, and becoming gay and selfish once more.
"Why should we wait for its happiness?" he continued. "I am rich, far richer than you guess. We are both young. Marry me at once, Ellen, and let us go away in search of pleasure and new scenes."
"Not yet," she answered. "I cannot."
"Why should we wait?"
"I will not be married until the year is up," she replied, more seriously.
"You will die in this stupid place."
"I am used to quiet."
"But now you have had a glimpse of another life; you know what money can do for you; your books have told you what a delightful life we might lead in France or Italy."
"That may be, but----"
"What? You torment me on purpose to enjoy my distress! What were you going to say?"
"I am not certain that I had better make any change in my life."
"Not make any change! Do you mean to treat me as if I were a child?"
"What a look! A reasonable woman would certainly hesitate about placing herself in the power of a man with such a dreadful temper."
"You need have no fear on that score," he replied, subduing his pa.s.sion.
"Nowhere in the world, Ellen, could you find a man so devoted and patient as I would be. Remember how long I have loved you----"
"Now you are reminding me of my age."
"You are not old enough yet to dislike thinking of it."
"Well, what were you saying?"