Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-11-12

I'm afraid il does
What have you found out about Mr..
ArmitaEe? ~Stay-before You speak |
ought to tell YOU that what you say will
in all probability be repeated to him; and
while I'm about il / ought, perhaps, to
tell you something else-and that is not
a very easy something to say"
She slipped at her glass; then she took
a cigarette out of a gold case and began
to smoke. ! thought what an extremely
unprepossessing person she seemed.
Rather to my surprise, and a good deal
10 my confusion. she showed an uneX-
pected capacity to read my thoughts.
you don't think I'm very much to
look at, do you? I'm not; I never was.
FINE has not improved me, either outside
or in. When I was young ] was very
poor. For seven years | was a governcss
at sometimes twenty, sometimes thirty
pounds a year. and lived upon my earn
inrs-if you know what that means. |
Couldn't eNpect TO get married on that.
could !? And no one wanted me any
how though | wanted to marry very
badly. l never remember the time when
the one thing of which l dreamed was
not to become some decent mans wife.
1t sounds funny, doesn't TT"
She ficked the ash from her cigarette,
l was beginning to wish that / had left
her alone, that | had not embraced an
opportunity of doing her good.
"When I was thirty-eight | came into
a lot of money from an uncle, whom |
don't remember to have ever seen. 1t
turned my head; | thought that money
could do anything. I decided that now !
would marry, and that | would marry
Just the sort OF man | had always hoped
I would do You see, | had practically
no knowledge of the world at all-how
can a woman have who has lived a life
like mine? II took seven or eight years
90 raaLa - N1nar 70 ma that in fhinEinp
because ! had got money I could marry
the sort OF man ! wanted to, ! was a
fool"
She smiled. and the whole of her face
seemed to be dislocated to enable her to
do so. and she beckoned the waiter to
fill her glass.
Men wanted to marry mech, yes; but
they were the kind of men whom l would
not, as the saying is, have touched with
the end of a barge pole. Whenever |
saw a masculine creature to whose APP
pearance | particularly objected, ! knew
that, sooner or later, he would ask me
to be his wife-which was nice. No one
else ever did, so l made a fool of myself
by way of seeking consolation
The waiter brought her a fresh edition
of that curious concoction; she put the
glass to her lips.
Don't suppose that my desire to marry
grew less as my years grew more; that's
Il silly notion which some young girls
seem To have. If l have to advertise for
a husband, I'm going to have one before
| die; so you can imagine what il means
to me that Cecil Armitage has asked me
to be his wife. l don know that I'm
particularly fond of him; I'm quite
aware that he isn't at all fond Of me. OF
course. / shall have to pay for him-you
needn't tell me that. I've got more
money than some people think, or. ] be-
lieVe, even h he suspects. l believe
he thinks that I've got two or three thou
sand a year. I'm a ricn woman, my dear.
My money has gone on increasing and in
creasing, and now | don't spend a tenth
OF my income. | don't mean TO let him
know how much money ] really have
he'd want too much If did. / don't sup
pose for a moment that he isn't what
I've seen described as shop soiled;' he
wouldn't want to get money out of mt
at the price of makipG me his wife If he
wasn't in a nasty hole. And. bless you
| don't mind that; I've grown out of al
my Illusions. You can tell me all yot
know against him If you Ike, though
don't know how you found II out: II vii
give me a pun over him when II comes
10 talking matters over a little later on
Nothing you can tell me to his discredi