"You mean that you will make Mrs. Greatorex my enemy abut this," said the girl scornfully. "You will turn her against me."
"As for that," said he, "you are not the down-trodden slave you would describe. The law of to-day"—bitterly—"leaves most people very free. You are thoroughly protected."
"So far, yes; but you also know that my only home is with Mrs. Greatorex. If she were to turn against me—-"
"Then I should take you in."
"Never!" said she strongly. "I would rather die on the roadside than have anything to do with you!"
"You think that now, but time changes most things, and poverty is hard to bear. You will listen to your aunt at last; and I—I who have loved you—I who have looked forward to such an hour as this—have looked to you as my salvation—-"
"Dr. Darkham!"—she turned upon him passionately—"do not look at me at all. It is useless, believe me. Nothing under heaven could change my determination on this point. I have told you I would rather die than marry you. Look elsewhere and forget me, I entreat you."
She turned away from him and glanced once more up the road. Would he never come?
"Not in sight yet?" said Darkham, with a contemptuous laugh. "To keep you waiting so! What a dilatory lover!"
"I wish you would go away," said she quietly.