Disagreeable
as I find it to air my sentiments in this public manner, yet since
you provoke me to it, I will say once and for all, that I am ,deeply
in love with Miss Moore, and that it is for this reason only I am
going to marry her. Were she the penniless girl her sister is, and
Miss Tuttle the proud possessor of the wealth which, in ,your eyes,
confers such distinction upon Miss Moore, you would still see me at
the latter's feet, and at hers only. Miss Tuttle's charms are not
potent enough to hold the heart which has once been fixed by her
sister's smile."
This was pointed enough, certainly, but when at the conclusion of
his words a tall figure rose from a year corner and Cora Tuttle
passed the amazed group with a bow, I dare warrant that not one of
the men composing it but wished himself a hundred miles away.
Jeffrey himself was chagrined, and made a move to follow the woman
he had so publicly scorned, but the look she cast back at him was
one to remember, and he hesitated. What was there left for him to
say, or even to do? The avowal had been made in all its bald
frankness and nothing could alter it. As for her, she behaved
beautifully, and by no word or look, so far as the world knew, ever
showed that her woman's pride, if not her heart, had been cut to
the quick, by the one man she adored.
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