Page:The Cottagers of Glenburnie - Hamilton (1808).djvu/328

 "Sir," interrupted Mollins, to whom Mr Flinders had been all this time making signals to speak, "Sir, I claim this lady as my wife. Heaven and earth shall not separate us; for am I not her husband? Say my love, my dearest, fairest creature, are you not mine in the eye of heaven?"

"Speak at once," cried my father, "are you that man's wife?"

"Yes," returned Bell, in a voice scarcely audible; and giving her hand to Mollins as she spoke.

"Poor misguided child!" said my father, "may you never have cause to repent of the rash act, though it sends a knell to your father's heart."

He then turned to go, but was surrounded by the Flinders', and the other people, all calling out, that he must not leave them in ill will, but stay and be reconciled, and dine with them comfortably. Mrs Flinders was flippantly urgent, saying, that she was sure it would be very hard if he