Page:Keeping the Peace.pdf/296

 "Married!" she said, and stood her ground.

"Oh, you are terribly hurt. I know that!" exclaimed Edward. "But you have had a lucky escape. I tell you, you have had a lucky escape."

"You don't know what you are talking about," said Alice sharply, "and I don't know what is going to become of me."

Suspicion sickened into certainty. After a long silence Edward said: "The dirty dog! He ought to be lynched." Then he said, "Do your father and mother know?"

"Mother knows that there is something all wrong—but she doesn't dare suspect. She knows it would kill her—and father. Poor father and his theories! They don't work out when it comes to me."

"What are you going to do?"

"What can I do? I'm not going to go on living. That's certain."

"But Alice—don't talk like that!"

"Where is your mother? I'll ask her what I'd better do. Maybe she would like to take me in. Anything that has ever belonged to her blessed James ought to be sacred to her."

"Mother's out," said Edward, "and don't talk so wildly. Are you still in love with James?"

"I hate him! I could kill him."

"So could I—slow torture, and all that kind of