"And you will let that poltroon Stanford boast, as he does boast, that you will live and die single for his sake!" he cried, bitterly. "He has made it the subject of a bet in a London club-room with Major Lauderdale of the Guards."
"No!" said she, her face flushing, her eyes kindling; "he never did that!"
"He did do it. I have proof of it. You loved him so well—he boasted—that you would never marry. He and Lauderdale made the bet."
She drew a long, hard breath, her eyes flashing, her white teeth clenched.
"The dastard," she cried; "the mean, lying, cowardly dastard! Oh, if I were a man!"
"Take your revenge without being a man. Prove him a liar and a boaster. Marry me!"
She did not answer; but he read hope in her flushed and excited face.
"Besides," he artfully went on, "what will you do here? You have no longer a home when your father marries; unless you can consent to be subject to the woman who was once his housekeeper. You will have no place in the world; you will only be an incumbrance; your step-mother will wish you out of the way, and your father will learn to wish as his new wife does. Oh, Kate, come with me! Come to Glen Keith, and reign there; we will travel over the world; you shall have every luxury that wealth can procure; your every wish shall be gratified; you shall queen it, my beautiful one, over the necks of those who have slighted and humiliated you. Leave this hateful Canada, and come with me as my wife—as Lady Keith!"
"Don't! don't!" she cried, lifting her hand to stop his passionate pleading. "You bewilder me; you take my breath away! Give me time; let me think; my head is whirling now."
"As long as you like, my dearest. I don't ask you for love now; that will come by-and-by. Only give me hope, and I can wait—wait as long as Jacob for Rachel, if necessary."