In that case I have been decoyed over here to
marry a man who not only never asked me to come, but who stood by and let
me be hoaxed in this shameful way, and now leaves me to be persecuted by
this one's ridiculous offers of marriage,--as if I belonged to all or any
of the Harshaws, whichever one came first! Michael may not even know that
I am here," she added in a lower key. "If Cecil Harshaw was capable of
doing what he has done, by his own confession, it would be little more to
intercept my answers to his forgeries."
That was true, I said. It was quite possible the young man lied. She would,
of course, give Mr. Michael Harshaw a chance to tell _his_ story.
"I cannot believe," said the distracted girl, "that Michael would lend
himself, even passively, to such an abominable trick. Could any one believe
it--of his worst enemy!"
Impossible, I agreed. She must believe nothing till she had heard from her
lover.
"But if Michael did not know it," she mused, with a piteous blush, "then
Cecil Harshaw must have sent me that money himself--the insolence! And
after that to ask me to marry him!"
Men were fearfully primitive still, after all that we had done for them, I
reminded her, especially in their notions of love-making.
Pages:
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179