"He used to call me so," she replied, with a shade of sadness.
Thrasher turned pale.
"Don't speak of him in my presence, Ellen; it is cruel."
"To his memory, yes," she answered, with real bitterness in her voice.
Thrasher sat down irritated and pale. "Ellen," he said, "it would be far better if you would consent to take a voyage and be married at once in France or Italy. I am restless in this country—it is hard to breathe the same air with one's parents—and such parents, Ellen, without sometimes wishing to see them."
"I thought you wished to give them up as I was willing to put away all the friends who had been kind to me," answered the heartless woman. "How else could you or I hope to enjoy our new life? Besides, it was your own proposal; I never asked you to sacrifice the old folks—merely said something of how much out of place they might be, and how provoking their ways would become in a house like that we were building in the clouds."
"In reality, Ellen, the house I talked of shall be nothing to the palace I am building for my queen."
Mrs. Mason's eyes flashed triumphantly.
"I am half tempted," she said.
"Ah, my love, be wholly tempted!" he pleaded, with genuine tenderness in his voice. "No woman ever was worshipped as you shall be."