A quick change passed over Mr. Fletcher's face; his cold eyes
kindled with an angry spark, his lips were pale with anger, and his
voice was very bitter, as he slowly said:

"I've made many blunders in my life, and this is one of the
greatest; for I believed in a woman, was fool enough to care for her
with the sincerest love I ever knew, and fancied that she would be
grateful for the sacrifice I made."

He got no further, for Christie rose straight up and answered him
with all the indignation she felt burning in her face and stirring
the voice she tried in vain to keep as steady as his own.

"The sacrifice would not have been all yours, for it is what we are,
not what we have, that makes one human being superior to another. I
am as well-born as you in spite of my poverty; my life, I think, has
been a better one than yours; my heart, I know, is fresher, and my
memory has fewer faults and follies to reproach me with. What can
you give me but money and position in return for the youth and
freedom I should sacrifice in marrying you? Not love, for you count
the cost of your bargain, as no true lover could, and you reproach
me for deceit when in your heart you know you only cared for me
because I can amuse and serve you. I too deceived myself, I too see
my mistake, and I decline the honor you would do me, since it is so
great in your eyes that you must remind me of it as you offer it."

In the excitement of the moment Christie unconsciously spoke with
something of her old dramatic fervor in voice and gesture; Mr.
Fletcher saw it, and, while he never had admired her so much, could
not resist avenging himself for the words that angered him, the more