"What do you take me for? Do you suppose I shall consent to give you
up for money? Tell me what J have asked. Does that man know your
history?"
"Of course he knows it--everything."
"And he thinks I shall never succeed in finding you out! Well, he is
mistaken, you see--things of this kind are always found out, as
you and he might have known. You can't do wrong and live all your
life as if you were innocent."
The admonition came rather inappropriately from him, but it shook
Lilian in spite of her better sense.
"It can't be changed," she exclaimed. "It can't be undone."
"That's all nonsense!"
"I will die rather than leave him!"
Hot jealousy began to rage in him. He was not a man of vehement
passions, but penal servitude had wrought the natural effect upon
his appetites. The egotism of a conceited disposition tended to the
same result. He swore within himself a fierce oath that, come what
might, this woman should be his. She contrasted him with her wealthy
lover, despised him; but right and authority were on his side.
"Leave him you must--and shall so there's plain speaking! You will
never go into that house again."
Lilian turned as if to flee from him. No one was within sight; and
how could she have appealed to any one for help? In the distance she
saw the roof of Mrs. Wade's cottage; it allayed her despair for the
moment.
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