You can't blame a man who loves a
girl, if he wants to take her away from such a wretched life. His
love would be good for nothing if he did not long to rescue her!"
"I would never have left you behind to bear your slavery alone,
while I slipped away to happiness and comfort--not for any man
alive would I
I have done it!" This speech, so unlike Waitstill in its
ungenerous reproach, was repented of as soon as it left her
tongue. "Oh, I did not mean that, my darling!" she cried. "I
would have welcomed any change for you, and thanked God for it,
if only it could have come honorably and aboveboard."
"But, don't you see, Waity, how my marriage helps everything?
That is what makes me happiest; that now I shall have a home and
it can be yours. Father has plenty of money and can get a
housekeeper. He is only sixty-five, and as hale and hearty as a
man can be. You have served your time, and surely you need not be
his drudge for the rest of your life. Mark and I thought you
would spend half the year with us."
Waitstill waived this point as too impossible for discussion.
"When and where were you married, Patty?" she asked.
"In Allentown, New Hampshire, last Monday, the day you and father
went to Saco.
Pages:
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265