"
"And with a flighty girl's refusal your profound, and lasting, and all
enduring love dies out, like a dip-candle under an extinguisher! Oh, you
are all alike--all alike! Selfish, and mean, and cruel, and false, and
fickle to the very heart's core!"
"Hard words," said Mr. Ingelow, with infinite calm. "You make sweeping
assertions, madame, but there is just a possibility of your being
mistaken, after all."
"Words, words, words!" Miriam cried, bitterly. "Words in plenty, but no
actions! I wish my tongue had been palsied ere I uttered what I have
uttered within this hour!"
"My dear madame, softly, softly! Pray, pray do not be so impetuous.
Don't jump at such frantic conclusions! I assure you, my words are not
empty sound. I mean 'em, every one. I'll do anything in reason for you
or your charming niece."
"In reason!" said the woman, with a scornful laugh. "Oh, no doubt!
You'll take, exceeding good care to be calm and reasonable, and weigh
the pros and cons, and not get yourself into trouble to deliver the girl
you wanted to marry the other day from captivity--from death, perhaps!
She refused you, and that is quite sufficient.
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