Margaret Vincent: A Novel

by Mrs. W. K. Clifford

"I am here just as Miss Hunstan is. I have taken these rooms, and want to be an actress as she was."

"What for?"—his eyes were full of astonishment—"and what does your mother say to it?"

"She understands. She knows that I can't go back till my father returns."

"And what about Mr. Garratt?" his tone was brisk and gay, but he waited eagerly for her answer.

"Oh!" and she grew crimson, "I did so want to tell you about Mr. Garratt, but I didn't feel I could unless you asked me. He came to see Hannah—"

"I don't believe that," he laughed. "I saw Hannah, you know."

"And then he thought—that—he liked me—and he said—well, he said things—you know," she added, rather lamely.

Tom nodded to give her courage. "Well?"

"And he went up to the wood when I was there, and Lena Lakeman came up and found him, and—and, oh, I hated Mr. Garratt," and she burst into tears. "I can't tell you how much I detested him, and yet you know he was very straightforward in a way, and he was not afraid of saying what he thought, and, of course, he couldn't help being vulgar—"