Page:Mehalah 1920.djvu/15

Rh saltings, the creeks, the fleets, the farm. That is mine," said he, striking the wall with his gun, "and that is mine," dashing the butt end against the hearth; "and you are mine, and Glory is mine."

"That never," said the girl stepping forward, and confronting him with dauntless eye and firm lips and folded arms.

"Eh! Gloriana! have I roused you?" exclaimed Elijah Rebow, with a flash of exultation in his fierce eyes. "I said that the house and the marshes, and the saltings are mine, I have bought them. And your mother and you are mine."

"Never," repeated the girl.

"But I say yes."

"We are your tenants, Elijah," observed the widow, nervously interposing. "Do not let Mehalah anger you. She has been reared here in solitude, and she does not know the ways of men. She means nothing by her manner."

"I do," said the girl, "and he knows it."

"She is a headlong child," pursued the old woman, "and when she fares to say or do a thing, there is no staying tongue or hand. Do not mind her, master."

The man paid no heed to the woman's words, but fixed his attention on the girl. Neither spoke. It was as though a war of wills was proclaimed and begun. He sought to beat down her defences with the force of his resolve flung at her from his dark eyes, and she parried it dauntlessly with her pride.

"By God!" he said at last, "I have never seen anywhere else a girl of your sort. There is none elsewhere. I like you."

"I knew it," said the mother with feeble triumph in her palsied voice, "She is a right good girl at heart, true as steel, and as tough in fibre."

"I have bought the house and the pasture, and the marshes and the saltings," said Elijah sulkily, "and all that thereon is. You are mine, Glory! You cannot escape me. Give me your hand."