“Well, I won’t,” I blurted out.
“Oh, you won’t?” he asked.
“No, I won’t, unless Muriel tells me she wishes it, with her own lips,” I replied, gradually getting my mental feet. “I won’t take her written word which has been bullied out of her.”
I was on the verge of getting stormy, and at such times my voice invariably goes down into deep chest notes, and becomes very loud. These symptoms showed the Doctor I was unduly excited, and he turned to my father saying; “Mr. Wesblock, I think you should send your son away. Send him far away, to Scotland, where there is a very fine university, and I will pay half the expense.”
“Damn your impertinence,” said my father; “send your daughter away, or allow the young people to see each other under reasonable restrictions.”
“That is impossible,” said the Doctor. “I should not be forced to send my daughter away; your son is the aggressor. He cannot be allowed to come to my house. I have other intentions for my daughter. She is too young to marry yet, as is your son, who is moreover, I take it, without means and dependent upon you. It is useless to discuss the matter further; but I will take steps to protect myself and my family.”
“You are making a sensation of a youthful affair which has no real importance,” said my father. “Protect yourself as you see fit. I can see no reason for interfering with my son’s love affairs. I will bid you good-evening.”
Whereupon he left the room, and the wrathful Doctor could do no less than bow stiffly to my mother and take his departure.
Extremes meet. My father went to one extreme in considering my love affair of no consequence whatever, while Muriel’s father went to the other. Amongst them all—Muriel’s parents, Lizette, and my parents—they succeeded in driving Muriel and me into a hasty and ill-considered marriage, which might have turned out very disastrously for one or both of us.
After long talks with my mother and father, I returned to the mill and wrote Muriel a long, true and explicit report of the events. I had the sincere sympathy of my mother in this matter. As for my father, he was inclined to be amused by my entanglement in a love affair. He entered thoroughly into my feelings regarding Mrs. Joseph, although he had never met her. Later, when these two came to know each other, Mrs. Joseph amused my father and he horrified her. So profound was her horror of him that she actually liked me in comparison.