From my childhood I have known nothing but poverty.
Shall I tell you my story, Mr. Carrington? I am not apt to speak of
myself, or of my youth; but you have evoked the demon, Memory, and I
feel a kind of relief in speaking of that long-departed time."
"I am deeply interested in all you say, Miss Brewer. Stranger though I
am, believe me that my interest is sincere."
As Victor Carrington said this, Charlotte Brewer looked at him with a
sharp, penetrating glance. She was not a woman to be fooled by shallow
hypocrisies. The light of the winter's day was fading; but even in the
fading light Victor saw the look of sharp suspicion in her pinched
face.
"Why should you be interested in me?" she asked, abruptly.
"Because I believe you may be useful to me," answered Victor, boldly.
"I do not want to deceive you, Miss Brewer. Great triumphs have been
achieved by the union of two powerful minds."
I know you to possess a powerful mind; I know you to be a woman above
ordinary prejudices; and I want you to help me, as I am ready to help
you. But you were about to tell me the story of your youth.
"It shall be told briefly," said Miss Brewer, speaking in a rapid,
energetic manner that was the very reverse of the measured tones she
was wont to use. "I am the daughter of a disgraced man, who was a
gentleman once; but I have forgotten that time, as he forgot it long
before he died.
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