"
"Are you mad, Josephine? Into the house this moment; if it IS he, I will
receive him and send him about his business."
But Josephine stood fascinated, and pale as ashes; for now the cocked
hat stopped, and a pale face with eyes whose eager fire shone even at
that distance, rose above the palings. Josephine crouched behind Rose,
and gasped out, "Something terrible is coming, terrible! terrible!"
"Say something hateful," said Rose, trembling in her turn, but only with
anger. "The heartless selfish traitor! He never notices you till you are
married to the noblest of mankind; and then he comes here directly to
ruin your peace. No; I have altered my mind. He shall not see you, of
course; but YOU shall hear HIM. I'll soon make you know the wretch and
loathe him as I do. There, now he has turned the corner; hide in the
oak while he is out of sight. Hide, quick, quick." Josephine obeyed
mechanically; and presently, through that very aperture whence her
sister had smiled on her lover she hissed out, in a tone of which one
would not have thought her capable, "Be wise, be shrewd; find out who is
the woman that has seduced him from me, and has brought two wretches to
this.
Pages:
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226