"Will you please give it to me?"
"Not unless you compel me to," and he closed the book and returned
it to an inside breast-pocket. "I would like to carry it as a
talisman against Phariseeism, the most hateful of vices."
"Oh, very well," and she turned away her face again.
"But please tell me about this pear-tree," he resumed.
"It won't seem to you as it did to me," she replied, with an
embarrassed air, "and I'm sorry I spoke of it, but now that I have
I may as well go on. To explain I must go back a little. Mr.
Van Berg, I'm taking you to see the old gentleman who saved me
from--from---" Her face was pale enough now.
"My dear Miss Mayhew, don't pain yourself by referring to that."
"I must," she said slowly. "By some strange fate you have seen me
at my worst, and since you say you care, you shall know the rest.
It may relieve your mind of a fear that I've seen in your face
since. I didn't think I'll ever be so wicked and desperate again,
and I wish you to know my reasons for thinking so. Well, on that
dreadful night the party I was with went into a prayer-meeting,
more by the way of frolic than anything else. I did not wish to
go in, but, strange as it may seem to you, I was afraid to walk
home, and so had to follow my company.
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