"
She paused with averted face. "Can you not at least respect a man who is
as sincere as you are?"
Again the vigilant Mrs. Hunter, uneasy that Mara and Clancy were not
within the range of her vision, appeared upon the scene. She glared a
moment at the young man, and Mara left the room without answering him.
CHAPTER XII
A "'FABULATION"
It had been Mara's belief, indeed almost her hope, that if truth compelled
Clancy to admit that he had spoken the obnoxious words he would become to
her as a "heathen man and a publican." No matter how much she might
suffer, she had felt that such proof of utter lack of sympathy with her
and all the motives which should control him, would simplify her course
and render it much easier, for she had thought that her whole nature would
rise in arms against him. It would end all compunction, quench hope and
even deal a fatal blow to love itself. She would not only see it her duty
to banish him from her thoughts, but had scarcely thought it possible that
he could continue to dwell in them.
The result had not justified her expectations, and she was baffled,
exasperated and torn by conflicting feelings. Although he had admitted the
words and confirmed them to her very face, he had not allowed himself to
be put in a position which enabled her to turn coldly and contemptuously
away. Brief as had been the interview, he had made it impossible for her
to doubt two things; first, that the Northern girl was nothing to him and
that he had not spoken the words to win her favor, for he had come back to
herself with the same love in his eyes and the same readiness to give it
expression despite her coldness and even harshness.
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