His face was almost opposite the window as he knelt. With a slight start, I saw him glance towards it; and then a gleam of malicious triumph lit up his countenance. Looking over my shoulder, I beheld a shadow just retiring round the corner.
“That is Grimsby,” said he deliberately. “He will report what he has seen to Huntingdon and all the rest, with such embellishments as he thinks proper. He has no love for you, Mrs. Huntingdon—no reverence for your sex, no belief in virtue, no admiration for its image. He will give such a version of this story as will leave no doubt at all about your character, in the minds of those who hear it. Your fair fame is gone; and nothing that I or you can say can ever retrieve it. But give me the power to protect you, and show me the villain that dares to insult!”
“No one has ever dared to insult me as you are doing now!” said I, at length releasing my hands, and recoiling from him.
“I do not insult you,” cried he: “I worship you. You are my angel, my divinity! I lay my powers at your feet, and you must and shall accept them!” he exclaimed, impetuously starting to his feet. “I will be your consoler and defender! and if your conscience upbraid you for it, say I overcame you, and you could not choose but yield!”
I never saw a man go terribly excited. He precipitated himself towards me. I snatched up my palette-knife and held it against him. This startled him: he stood and gazed at me in astonishment; I daresay I looked as fierce and resolute as he. I moved to the bell, and put my hand upon the cord. This tamed him still more. With a half-authoritative, half-deprecating wave of the hand, he sought to deter me from ringing.
“Stand off, then!” said I; he stepped back. “And listen to me. I don’t like you,” I continued, as deliberately and emphatically as I could, to give the greater efficacy to my words; “and if I were divorced from my husband, or if he were dead, I would not marry you. There now! I hope you’re satisfied.”
His face grew blanched with anger.
“I am satisfied,” he replied, with bitter emphasis, “that you are the most cold-hearted, unnatural, ungrateful woman I ever yet beheld!”
“Ungrateful, sir?”
“Ungrateful.”