Page:Randall Parrish--My Lady of the South.djvu/33

IN WHICH I SEE AND HEAR our stock; but I reckon you'll have to stay just the same, and keep the house until some of us get back again."

"Den ye're really a-goin', Miss Jean?"

"Yes, Joe, I’m going; there is no choice left me. They insist it is for the best, and have made all arrangements. Why, General Johnston's chaplain is waiting there in the house now, and Calvert is expected as soon as it is dark. I am almost ready to run away, if I only knew somewhere I could run to. I have n't any defence, even, for I do not know a thing against Calvert Dunn; so I've got to marry him," her voice choked, her handclasp tightening. "And—and, Joe, I know I'll be miserable, for I believe he is a cowardly brute."

"Ye does, honey?" in unmitigated astonishment at this sudden outburst.

"Yes, I do, although I hardly know why. I have not even dared to whisper it to myself before. It has been little mean, contemptible things no true man would ever be guilty of. Look how he lashed you across the face with his riding-whip; look how he shot that poor dog because it failed to retrieve to his liking; look how he sneered at me for binding up the poor thing's wounds. Such things show what he is, rather than his soft words and outward veneer of courtesy. Besides, what real man would ever insist on a girl’s marrying him when he knows she would almost give her life to escape?"

"Does Massa Calvert know dat?"

"He does, if he understands the English language. I told him plainly enough, and he only laughed. He said [ 25 ]