“Yes, I have hated and do still hate him, the insufferable upstart, with his assumption of high-toned airs, which are entirely at variance with the beggardly position he has always occupied,” Mr. Hubbard almost hissed, a cold glitter in his eyes, and with the old vicious gleam of his white teeth beneath his mustache. “More than that,” he resumed cruelly, “I swore long ago that he should never marry you, as I plainly saw he was aiming to do by worming himself into the confidence of your father and making love to you on the sly——”
“If you please, Mr. Hubbard, I think we have discussed this subject sufficiently, and I would like to change it,” Allison here icily interposed. “I have decided that I will spend the next two years traveling; therefore, I shall write to Miss Wilber this evening to——”
“Not quite so fast, my young lady, if you please,” her guardian rudely interrupted. “You appear to forget or ignore the fact that you are under my authority, and are not free to arrange your movements exactly as you like without my consent.”
“I am more than eighteen years of age, Mr. Hubbard,” said Allison, proudly, “and I am capable of thinking and acting for myself in all ways except the management of my fortune. Business I do not understand, and I bow to the decree of my father’s will that you shall act as my agent financially; but I am no longer a child, to be told that I cannot go here or there, provided I am properly attended, and I shall arrange to go abroad immediately, with Miss Wilber as my chaperon.”
“Excuse me, Miss Brewster, but you will not go abroad this summer, unless you go under my protection, and as my wife,” John Hubbard observed, with a peculiar smile, that was exceedingly exasperating, and which also sent a strange chill to the heart of his listener. “You’d better be sensible and listen to reason, Allison,” he continued more gently, after a moment of silence. “If you will accede to my proposal, your future may be one long idyl of happiness; your every wish shall be gratified; you shall be a queen—I your slave. But,” sternly, as the girl made an impatient gesture, “if you defy me, I——”
“Well, what if I defy you?” she cried, turning upon him with the air of a princess.
“I have it in my power to crush you.”
A light, scornful laugh rippled over Allison’s red lips.
The idea of a man like John Hubbard, whom, all her life, she had instinctively regarded as her inferior, being able to “crush” her, Adam Brewster’s daughter, and heiress to a million or more, seemed ludicrous in the extreme.
“You appear to be skeptical regarding my powers, Miss Brewster,” the man observed, with a crafty smile, but with a face that was ghastly white from his intense anger.