“If they are so ready to fight, why didn't they do it when I told the old dog that the bait to catch you was his daughter?”
“What! Did you say that?” asked Clarence, reddening to the roots of his hair, his face quickly blanching again.
“I did—in clear language.”
“In dirty, low, nasty language, and it is you who are the coward, to insult me under the shelter of your paternal privileges,” said Clarence, rising. “You have been taunting me until I can bear it no longer. I suppose you wish to drive me from your house. Be it so. I leave now—never to enter it again.”
“That suits me. You are too greasy for both of us to live under the same roof,” said Darrell, contemptuously, with a gesture of disgust.
“Good-by, mother; good-by, my sisters; good-by, boys—take care of mother and the girls. God bless you.”
With a piercing cry, that rang through the house, Alice ran to Clarence, and throwing her arms around his neck, said:
“Kiss me, my darling, for if you leave us I shall be wretched until you return. Oh! I can't let you go.”
Tenderly Clarence pressed his sister to his heart. He felt her arms relaxing, her head fell back, and she closed her eyes. Lovingly he then lifted her, and placing her upon a lounge, said:
“Alice has fainted, mother. My sweet sister, how dearly I love her, God only knows.”