Indeed there is no other course. We must
own the truth; concealment and deceit will not mend our folly."
"Oh, hang it, Mary, don't call it folly."
"Forgive me, dear, but it was the height of folly. Not that I mean to
throw the blame on you--that would be ungenerous; but the truth is you
had no business to marry me, and I had no business to marry you. Only
think--me--Mary Bartley--a clandestine marriage, and then our going to
the lakes again, and spending our honey-moon together just like other
couples--the recklessness--the audacity! Oh, what happiness it was!"
Walter very naturally pounced upon this unguarded and naive conclusion of
Mary's self-reproaches. "Yes," said he, eagerly; "let us go there again
next week."
"Not next week, not next month, not next year, nor ever again until we
have told all the world."
"Well, Mary," said Walter, "it's for you to command and me to obey. I
said so before, and I say so now, if you are not ashamed of me, how can I
be ashamed of you; you say the word, and I will tell my father at
dinner-time, before Julia Clifford and John Baker, and request them to
tell everybody they know, that I am married to a woman I adore, and there
is nobody I care for on earth as I do for her, and nothing I value
compared with her love and her esteem.
Pages:
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296