Report said that
he had adored many of them in return, but after having known me for a
very few days, he asked me to marry him, protesting that he was a changed
man. I liked him, as every one else did, but I was not in love with him,
and said so; he said he would give me as much time as I chose, if I would
not point-blank refuse him; and so the matter was left.
"Within a week or so Higgs was brought to the prison, and he had not been
there long before I found, or thought I found, that I liked him better
than I liked Strong. I was a fool--but there! As for Higgs, he liked,
but did not love me. If I had let him alone he would have done the like
by me; and let each other alone we did, till the day before he was taken
down to the capital. On that day, whether through his fault or mine I
know not--we neither of us meant it--it was as though Nature, my dear,
was determined that you should not slip through her fingers--well, on
that day we took it into our heads that we were broken-hearted lovers--the
rest followed. And how, my dearest boy, as I look upon you, can I feign
repentance?
"My husband, who never saw Higgs, and knew nothing about him except the
too little that I told him, pressed his suit, and about a month after
Higgs had gone, having recovered my passing infatuation for him, I took
kindly to the Mayor and accepted him, without telling him what I ought to
have told him--but the words stuck in my throat.
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