"Not yet," she answered to her beating heart that longed to defy him.
"It seems to me that in your peculiar situation, being a mere dependent on Mrs. Leslie's charity, that the sooner you have a home and a husband the better for you," he continued, coarsely. "I am most anxious to take you back to your mother with the good tidings we have to carry her. Do you remember, Irene, that the longer you delay our marriage the more you prolong your mother's pain?"
"I remember," she said, in a stifled voice.
"Then will you not consent to name this day week for our wedding-day?
"So soon? No, I will not," she flashed back, in indignant surprise.
"For your mother's sake," he pleaded artfully.
"Not for an angel's sake!" declared Irene angrily.
Her lover was dumfounded at this indignant denial.
"How soon, then, can I count upon your fulfilment of your promise?" he demanded, in a crestfallen tone.