"
"Mountjoy, that is wicked!"
"Then wicked let it be. It is true. Tretton, by singular circumstances,
is all my own, free of debt. At any rate, I and others believe it to be
so."
"Tretton being all your own can make no difference."
"I told you that I had not come to offer you my fortune." And he almost
scowled at her as he spoke. "You know what my career has hitherto been,
though you do not perhaps know what has driven me to it. Shall I go
back, and live after the same fashion, and let Tretton go to the dogs?
It will be so unless you take me and Tretton into your hands."
"It cannot be."
"Oh, Florence! think of it before you pronounce my doom."
"It cannot be. I love you well as my cousin, and for your sake I love
Tretton also. I would suffer much to save you, if any suffering on my
part would be of avail. But it cannot be in that fashion." Then he
scowled again at her. "Mountjoy, you frighten me by your hard looks;--but
though you were to kill me you cannot change me. I am the promised wife
of Harry Annesley; and for his honor I must bid you plead this cause no
more." Then, just at this moment there was a ring at the bell and a
knock at the door, each of them somewhat impetuous, and Florence
Mountjoy, jumping up with a start, knew that Harry Annesley was there.
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