The White Blackbird

BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1912
Copyright, 1912 , By Little, Brown, and Company.
All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian
Published, September, 1912
THE COLONIAL PRESS C. H. SIMONDS & CO., BOSTON, U. S. A.
FOR ISOBEL MY WIFE AND OUR DAUGHTER ISOBEL

I'd far rather beg in the gutter than marry you, Jasper! flashed the girl, at last goaded past all patience. Her clouded, indignant eyes expressed both contempt and aversion for the young man leaning over the deck-rail beside her.
He was still a young man as years go and in spite of the grey streaks in his dark hair, the crow's-feet above his cheek-bones; more than passably good-looking, too, with his regular profile and straight, spare, athletic figure, though his sleepy eyes were a trifle close-set and more than a trifle untrustworthy, though the black moustache he was twirling with a long, thin, almost womanish hand hid a cruel, selfish mouth.
In his smart white yachting-suit and panama, lounging over the sun-dried teak taffrail with his knees crossed, he seemed to be neither oppressed by the tropical heat nor impressed at all by anything that his companion could say.
I'd far rather beg in the gutter, she repeated, as if to settle the matter. And the emphasis with which she spoke showed that she meant what she said.
But—that doesn't make any difference, my dear Sallie, he once more answered, displaying his white, even teeth in a slight, amused smile. You're going to marry me just the same. And you may as well make up your mind right away—that it will pay you best to be pleasant about it.