The Secret Power by Marie Corelli
page 10 of 372 (02%)
page 10 of 372 (02%)
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be loved. No I'm not. I should find it a bore!"
"Bore?" she echoed--"What is that?" "What is that? It is itself, Manella! 'Bore' is just 'bore.' It means tiredness--worn-out-ness--a state in which you wish yourself in a hot bath or a cold one, so that nobody can come near you. To be 'loved' would finish me off in a month!" Her big eyes opened more widely than their wont in piteous perplexity. "But how?" she asked. "How? Why, just as you have put it,--to be prayed for night and morning,--to be worked for and waited on till fingers turned to bones,--to be guarded from sickness and harm,--heavens!--think of it! No more adventures in life,--no more freedom!--just love, love, love, which would not be love at all but the chains of a miserable wretch in prison!" She flushed an angry crimson. "Who is it that would chain you?" she demanded, "Not I! You could do as you liked with me--you know it!--and when you go away from this place, you could leave me and forget me,--I should never trouble you or remind you that I lived!! I should have had my happiness,--enough for my day!" The pathos in her voice moved him though he was not easily moved. On |
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