Page:Neith Boyce--The bond.djvu/137

Rh more difficult. I shall be as nasty as possible; I shall worry the life out of you. You poor old creature, you'll rue the day that you asked me for the eighth time! I gave you seven chances of happiness, and you refused them. Now, you're bound, and this—this—settles it. You can never get away from me, nor I from you. … I always liked to think, you know, that we were both free, and neither needed to put up with the other a day longer than we both wanted. But now we're both going to be slaves. Oh, you'll see, you'll see! I tell you our youth is over. Now we pass under the yoke. This is the real yoke, not marriage. Oh, you'll regret it, when you see me fat and ugly, my figure gone, my good temper gone"

"My slim mermaid!"

"Mermaid! I shall look like this!"

She made a caricature with the blankets. Then she stretched out her arms and looked down at her long slim body sadly.

"Good-bye to my beauty," she murmured. "You will need to love me, to make up for it! But when it's gone, perhaps you won't—love me any more."

"Is it for that only that I love you? You're the love of my soul, too." And he caught her in a passionate, sad embrace.