Ruth saw this look of relenting, and would not give up her cause. She approached close to her father, and, clinging to his arm, implored him, with bitter sobs, to believe her when she said that this marriage would be worse than death to her.
"Hush, girl!" said the old man. "Hush, now, or I may believe some hints that the young man has thrown out of another person. No girl in these parts would refuse a young fellow so well-to-do and so good-looking, if she hadn't got some one else in her mind."
This speech was rendered more significant by a look of suspicion, which brought a rush of scarlet into the daughter's face.
"Oh, father, you are cruel!" cried the tortured young creature, struggling, as it were, for her life.
The old man turned away from this pathetic pleading; nothing but a stern sense of honor, which is so strong in some men of his class, could have nerved him against the anguish of this appeal.
"We have given our word, child; we have given our word," he said. "Neither you nor your father can go beyond that."
The gardener's voice faltered and he broke away from the trembling hands with which Ruth in her desperation sought to hold him. For the first time in his life he had found strength to resist her entreaties.
CHAPTER XII.
THE HEART STRUGGLE.