‘Go out of this house,’ repeated Rosalie, pointing mercilessly to the door; ‘and never let me see your face again. Out of my sight!’ she added quickly, as he still hesitated.
Sam’s inarticulate protests died upon his lips, and he turned and left her, Rosalie looking after him with gleaming eyes until his figure was lost to sight.
CHAPTER XI
Follow a shadow, it still flies you,
Seem to fly it, it will pursue:
So court a mistress, she denies you;
Let her alone she will court you.
Say, are not women truly, then,
Styled but the shadows of us men?Ben Jonson.
Who by resolves and vows engag’d does stand
For days that yet belong to Fate,
Does, like an unthrift, mortgage his estate
Before it falls into his hand.Abraham Cowley.
Isaac Sharpe, receiving no answer to his knock, walked straight into the parlour. The room was dark save for the smouldering glow of the fire, and it was some time before he discovered Rosalie’s figure huddled up in Elias’s chair.
‘Why, what be to do?’ he inquired, stooping over her.
‘Oh, Mr. Sharpe,’ returned she, with a strangled sob, ‘I have had such a day—I have been so insulted. Oh, how shall I ever forget it! What can I have done to bring about such a thing!’
‘Come,’ cried the farmer, much alarmed, ‘whatever is it, my dear? Out wi’ it; and let’s have some light to see ourselves by.’
With that he seized the poker and stirred the logs on the hearth, until they flared up with a brightness almost painful to Rosalie’s aching eyes. He saw the traces of tears upon her flushed face, and his concern increased.
‘I heard ye was in trouble again,’ he said, ‘and I thought I’d look in—Them cheeses as ye’ve been a-making of ever since midsummer is back on your hands, they tell me.’