“And for days and nights you stayed alone with this man?”
The lean hand, with unrelenting strength, now gripped the drooping face and held it firmly while the firelight played full upon it, meanwhile the keen old eyes bored into Nella-Rose’s very soul.
“But he—he is my man! You forget the—marrying on the hill, Miss Lois Ann!”
The voice was raised a bit and the colour left the trembling lips.
“Your man!” And a bitter laugh rang out wildly.
“Stop, Miss Lois Ann! Yo’ shall not look at me like that!”
The vision was dulled—Nella-Rose shivered.
“You shall not look at me like that; God would not—why should you?”
“God!”—the cracked voice spoke the word bitterly. “God! What does God care for women? It’s the men as God made things for, and us-all has to fend them off—men and God are agin us women!”
“No, no! Let me free. I was so happy until—Oh! Miss Lois Ann, you shall not take my happiness away.”