‘S-stay, y-y-y-you—’ he stuttered.
But I caught him by the arm.
‘If you will be advised by me, you will let her go. No good purpose will be served by a multiplication of words.’
‘Atherton, I—I’m disappointed in you. You—you haven’t behaved as I expected. I—I haven’t received from you the assistance which I looked for.’
‘My dear Lindon, it seems to me that your method of diverting the young lady from the path which she has set herself to tread is calculated to send her furiously along it.’
‘C-confound the women! c-confound the women! I don’t mind telling you, in c-confidence, that at—at times, her mother was the devil, and I’ll be—I’ll be hanged if her daughter isn’t worse.—What was the tomfoolery she was talking to you about? Is she mad?’
‘No,—I don’t think she’s mad.’
‘I never heard such stuff, it made my blood run cold to hear her. What’s the matter with the girl?’
‘Well,—you must excuse my saying that I don’t fancy you quite understand women.’
‘I—I don’t,—and I—I—I don’t want to either.’