"No," she answered, bitterly, "you ask for a sacrifice which in your egotistic eyes is no sacrifice. And you are keeping something back from me. What reason have you to be afraid of Dr. Jerce?"
"I have no reason. I never said that I was afraid."
"And yet----"
"And yet--and yet," he broke in, snappishly, "you are making a mountain out of a mole-hill. I only suggest that you should marry--"
"Marry a man I don't love. My word is passed to Anthony."
"Clarice?"
The girl pushed him aside and opened the door. "That is enough. Go your own silly way, but don't ask me to come with you."
"Ah! You are always selfish."
"Always," said Clarice, sadly, and thinking of the many small sacrifices she had made for the fool before her, "therefore, I marry the man I love!" and she hastened from the room, unwilling to break down before one who would take such emotion as a sign of yielding.
Ferdy, left alone, kicked over the breakfast table, and vented his rage on the furniture generally. The room was quite a wreck by the time his feelings were completely relieved.