‘But, Anne, men are mortal—will fall before temptation. ’Tis hard to blame us too cruelly.’
‘O yes; for certain men be mortal.’
‘I shall in truth provide for you all your days, Anne; I thought of no other thing.’
‘Will you, sir?’ said Anne, with a curious smile, and Meadowes, not catching its meaning, pursued eagerly—
‘All your days truly, Anne; you shall have all that woman can wish, if you will but pardon me.’
Anne stood looking at him in a curious dispassionate way for a moment.
‘I’d sooner starve,’ she said then, shortly.
‘But, Anne, you can never suppose that I would let you want, after all there has come and gone between us, after——’
Anne smiled again her curious smile, and shook her head.
‘A strange man you be for certain, Dick,’ she said; ‘kind an’ tender when you’ve a mind to be, and one as feels quick. She paused before adding slowly, ‘And just as false as hell.’