"No use!" she said. "I'll not!"
Stronger and stronger in her soul surged the yearning for the dominance of one man, not this man yonder--a yearning too strong now for her to resist.
"But Molly, daughter," her mother's voice said to her, "girls has--girls does. And like he said, it's the promise, it's the agreement they both make, with witnesses."
"Yes, of course," her father chimed in. "It's the consent in the contract when you stand before them all."
[pg 229]
"I'll not stand before them. I don't consent! There is no agreement!"
Suddenly the girl reached out and caught from her mother the pitiful little bride's bouquet.
"Look!" she laughed. "Look at these!"
One by one, rapidly, she tore out and flung down the folded gentian flowers.