“Well, yes, I am,” she dryly responded, as she drew forth her watch and glanced at the time. “Excuse me,” she added coldly, “but I have an engagement to drive at four.”
She was about to turn away and leave the room when her companion seized her hand in a vise-like grip, and, bending before her, gazed straight into her eyes with a look that sent a cold chill running down her back.
“Once more, and for the last time—and think well before you answer me—will you marry me, Allison?” he questioned, through his tightly locked teeth.
“No! a thousand times, no!” she cried, in a ringing tone; “and if you ever broach the subject again I will appeal to be set free from your guardianship. I will not submit to such persecution.”
“Ha, ha! You will not need to appeal to be freed from my authority!” he retorted, with an almost fiendish leer.
“Ah! you are going to resign your position, perhaps?” said Allison, with an eagerness which but too plainly betrayed her delight at such a prospect.
“You would be glad to have me do so, no doubt,” he sneered.
“Yes, I think I would,” the girl gravely returned, after a moment of thought. “After what has occurred to-day I think it would be unpleasant for both of us to continue our present relations.”
“Very well; you shall be gratified, for it is my purpose to resign all authority over you,” said John Hubbard, with peculiar emphasis. Then he added, with something between a sigh and a groan, “I would have spared you this, Allison, and it is not too late even now to—to save you, if you will but reconsider your rejection of me——”
Allison checked him with an imperative gesture.