“What do you mean, Charley—friends of mine?”
“Well, you see they started in by stipulating that I should keep away from Belle Plain, and the terms they proposed being on the face of them preposterous, trouble quickly ensued—trouble for me, you understand. But never mind, dear, the next man who undertakes to grab my horse by the bit won't get off quite so easy.”
“Why should any one care whether you come to Belle Plain or not?”
“I wonder if my amiable friend, Tom, could have arranged this little affair; it's sort of like old Tom to move in the dark, isn't it?”
“He couldn't—he wouldn't have done it, Charley!” but she looked troubled, not too sure of this.
“Couldn't he? Well, maybe he couldn't—but he's afraid you'll marry me—and I'm only afraid you won't. Betty, hasn't it ever seemed worth your while to marry me just to give old Tom the scare of his life?”
“Please, Charley—” she began.
“I'm in a dreadful state of mind when I think of you alone at Belle Plain—I wish you could love me, Betty!”
“I do love you. There is no one I care half so much for, Charley.”
Norton shook his bandaged head and heaved a prodigious sigh.