"I know you say that to every
pretty woman who will listen to you, as I shall no longer to-night.
Come."
Baffled and puzzled also by the moody girl, who of late seemed so
different from her former self, he had no resource but to accompany
her back to the main entrance. Here, where the eyes of others were
upon her, she said abruptly, but with a charming smile:
"Good-night, Mr. Sibley," and went directly to her room.
The young man looked rather nonplussed and muttered an oath as he
walked away to console himself after the fashion of his kind.
"Is there no escape from this wretched life?" Ida sighed as she
wearily threw herself into a chair on reaching her room. "A man
whose addresses are an insult is my lover. The only man I can ever
love associates me in his mind with this low fellow. My father
obtains what little comfort he gets from the charity of a stranger.
How can I face this prospect day after day. Oh, that I had never
come here!"
"Ida," said her mother entering hastily, "what has happened to put
your father out so? I had a headache this evening, and came up
early. A little while ago he stalked in with his absurd tragic air.
'What is the matter,' I asked.
Pages:
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285