A Protegee of Jack Hamlin's and Other Stories by Bret Harte
page 96 of 200 (48%)
page 96 of 200 (48%)
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He took her hand mechanically, yet knowing whatever rage was in his heart he had not the strength to refuse it. "They told me it was Mrs. Merrydew," he stammered. "That was my mother's name," she said, with a little laugh. "I thought you knew it. But perhaps you didn't. When I got my divorce from Dick--you didn't know that either, I suppose; it's three months ago,--I didn't care to take my maiden name again; too many people remembered it. So after the decree was made I called myself Mrs. Merrydew. You had disappeared. They said you had gone East." "But the clerk says you are expecting your HUSBAND on the steamer. What does this mean? Why did you tell him that?" He had so far collected himself that there was a ring of inquisition in his voice. "Oh, I had to give him some kind of reason for my being alone when I did not find you as I expected," she said half wearily. Then a change came over her tired face; a smile of mingled audacity and tentative coquetry lit up the small features. "Perhaps it is true; perhaps I may have a husband coming on the steamer--that depends. Sit down, Jim." She let his hand drop, and pointed to an armchair from which she had just risen, and sank down herself in a corner of the sofa, her thin fingers playing with and drawing themselves through the tassels of the cushion. "You see, Jim, as soon as I was free, Louis Sylvester--you remember Louis Sylvester?--wanted to marry me, and even thought that he was the |
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