That said, he washed his hands of all
further responsibility. You two know the world, you will guess how it
ended. Quarrels in the household; the poor middle-aged woman, living in
her fool's paradise, blindly true to her lover; convinced that he was
foully wronged; frantic when he declared that he would not connect
himself with a family which suspected him. Ah, I have no patience when
I think of it, and I almost wish I had never begun to tell the story!
Do you know what he did? She was free of course, at her age, to decide
for herself; there was no controlling her. The wedding day was fixed.
Her father had declared he would not sanction it; and her step-mother
kept him to his word. She went alone to the church, to meet her
promised husband. He never appeared; he deserted her, mercilessly
deserted her--after she had sacrificed her own relations to him--on her
wedding-day. She was taken home insensible, and had a brain fever. The
doctors declined to answer for her life. Her father thought it time to
look to her banker's pass-book. Out of her six thousand pounds she had
privately given no less than four thousand to the scoundrel who had
deceived and forsaken her! Not a month afterwards he married a young
girl--with a fortune of course.
Pages:
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93