"I should have wanted more expenditure upon myself, for giving me my
proper place in society, than you, with your limited means, could have
possibly afforded.--"
"And I should have told you it would ruin me--"
"And that would have made me more disappointed in you than ever, and
provoked me to call you a pauper-monster.--"
"And then I would have twitted you about being anything but an heiress
yourself when I married you--"
"--Which would have thrown me into hysterics--"
"--Which would have made _me_ lock you up in your room, and leave the
house--"
"--For which _I_ would have sued you for an Indiana divorce--"
"--Thus driving _me_ to commit suicide--"
--"And bringing myself under a cruel public prejudice seriously
detrimental to my future prospects."
Gloriously excited and made nearly breathless by their friendly rivalry
in thus specifying what must have been the successive results of their
union without plenty of money, the animated pair panted at each other in
a kind of imaginative intoxication, and then shook hands almost
deliriously.
In a moment after, however, Mr. DROOD thrust his hands into his pockets
and presented an aspect of sudden discomfiture.
"I forgot about my uncle, JACK BUMSTEAD," he said, uneasily. "It will be
a dreadful blow for JACK: he's counted so much upon my having a wife for
him to flirt with.
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