Cumner's Son and Other South Sea Folk — Volume 03 by Gilbert Parker
page 7 of 53 (13%)
page 7 of 53 (13%)
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"The morning that I married you." His voice was thick with misery.
She became white and dazed. "Before--or after?" she asked. He paused a moment, looking steadily at her, and answered, "Before." She drew back as though she had been struck. "Good God!" she cried. "Why did he not--" she paused. "Why did he not marry you himself?" he rejoined. "You must ask him that yourself, if you do not know." "And yet you married me, knowing all--that he loved me," she gasped. "I would have married you then, knowing a thousand times that." She cowered, but presently advanced to him. "You have sinned as much as I," she said. "Do you dare pay the penalty?" "Do I dare ride with you to the cliff--and beyond?" Her lips framed a reply, but no sound came. "But we will wait till to-morrow," he said absently. "Why not to-day?" she painfully asked. "We will wait till to-morrow," he urged, and his eyes followed the trail of a horseman on the hill. "Why not while we have courage?" she persisted, as though the suspense |
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