He came near her in passing and said: “Aren’t you afraid to refuse me?”
Mahala studied him intently for several seconds and then she said deliberately: “What you threatened is consistent with Moreland character. As I understand it, I realize that, if it is in your power, you will break me, even as your father broke the heart and the brain of Becky Sampson when she was young and helpless.”
At that Junior became furious. He advanced upon Mahala threateningly, his fists doubled, his eyes blazing. “I won’t take that even from you,” he cried. “You lie! My father never knew Becky Sampson!”
Goaded beyond endurance, Mahala laughed at him.
“I dare you to ask Becky!” she cried.
Forgetting everything else in his rage, Junior once more hurried to his old refuge. He told his father what had occurred. The elder Moreland scorned the accusation.
He said to Junior: “I hope that at last you are thoroughly cured, that hereafter you’ll devote your time to the winning of a girl worth while. Why spend any more time hanging around an evil-tempered little pauper?”
Junior thought this over; then he agreed; but as he turned from the room he said to his father: “Pauper? Yes. But the prettiest girl God ever made, and the prettiest pauper Martin Moreland ever made!”
Martin Moreland was pleased. He rubbed his hands together and laughed in high glee. Junior stood a few minutes thinking deeply. Then he disappeared.
The next morning Junior asked his father for the use of their best carriage for the day and upon its being granted, he took it and disappeared. In the middle of the afternoon he presented himself at the Moreland front door having Edith Williams in his arms, and to his astonished mother he introduced her as his wife. She had consented to go to Bluffport with him and to marry him while her aunt thought that she had gone into the country for a drive.