Page 551 (1/1)
'You don'tto quarrel withI don't wish to quarrel with any one But of course we can't be friends when you haveon earth would induceabout that When they told me this story I did not believe theer when,--he would not tell it for he was too kind,--but when he would not contradict it It seemed to be almost impossible that you should have come to ue, nearly three weeks is a very short time That trip to Lowestoft couldn't have been much above a week before you came to me'
'What does itto you I think I will go away now, Mr Montague It was very good of you to come and tell me all It makes it soto--throw me over?'
'I don't want you to throw Mrs Hurtle over Good bye'
'Hetta!'
'No; I will not have you lay your hand upon ue' And so she left hiue was beside himself with dismay as he left the house He had never allowed himself for a moment to believe that this affair of Mrs Hurtle would really separate him from Hetta Carbury If she could only really know it all, there could be no such result He had been true to her fro from his love It was to be supposed that he had loved sooes, that would not, could not, affect her But her anger was founded on the presence of Mrs Hurtle in London,--which he would have given half his possessions to have prevented But when she did come, was he to have refused to see her? Would Hetta have wished him to be cold and cruel like that? No doubt he had behaved badly to Mrs Hurtle;--but that trouble he had overcoh he certainly had never behaved badly to her
He was al that he could do he had done for her For her sake he had quarrelled with Roger Carbury For her sake,--in order that he ht be effectually free fro of the wild cat For her sake,--so he told himself,--he had been content to abide by that odious railway coht if possible preserve an income on which to support her And now she told him that they must part,--and that only because he had not been cruelly indifferent to the unfortunate woic in it, no reason,--and, as he thought, very little heart 'I don't want you to throw Mrs Hurtle over,' she had said Why should Mrs Hurtle be anything to her? Surely she ht her own battles But they were all against hier Carbury, Lady Carbury, and Sir Felix; and the end of it would be that she would be forced into h to be her father! She could not ever really have loved him That was the truth She must be incapable of such love as was his own for her True love always forgives And here there was really so very little to forgive! Such were his thoughts as he went to bed that night But he probably oiven her very readily had he found that she had been living 'nearly three weeks ago' in close intercourse with another lover of whom he had hitherto never even heard the name But then,--as all the world knows,--there is a wide difference between youngwomen!