"Do go away, Charles," she said impatiently. "You know how your cigar sets me coughing."
He held out his hand to me with the easy, nonchalant air of one who is accustomed to success and popularity.
I looked at him with an aversion I could not conceal. The few years since we met has changed him so completely that I almost shuddered at the sight of his already bloated face, and at the air that told of a life worse than wasted.
"Do go away, Charles," Amelia repeated.
He threw himself into a chair without paying the least attention to her, and still addressing himself to me again, said:
"Upon my word, you are prettier than ever,"
and—
"I will come to see you at another time, Amelia," I said, putting on all the dignity I could condense in my small frame, and rising to take leave.
"Don't go, Katy!" he cried, starting up, "don't go. I want to have a good talk about old times."
Katy, indeed! How dared he? I came away burning with anger and mortification. Is it possible that I ever loved such a man? That to gratify that love I defied and grieved my dear mother through a whole year! Oh, from what hopeless misery God saved me, when He snatched me out of the depth of my folly!