American fiction -- 19th century; Dime novels; Popular literature
He was a tall, powerfully-built man of thirty or more, whom many would
call handsome, though there was a cruel, crafty look in his eyes, and in
the smile which habitually played about his mouth. Still, he was very
gentlemanly in his manner, and fascinating in his conversation, for he
had traveled much, and seen everything, and spoke both German and French
as readily as his mother tongue. With Miss Fleming he seemed to be on
the most intimate terms, though this intimacy only dated from the time
when she pleaded with him so prettily and successfully to take the place
of the priest in “The Mock Marriage,” where John Murdock was to have
officiated. At first the doctor had objected, saying gallantly that he
preferred to be the bridegroom, and asking who that favored individual
was to be.
“Mr. Everard Forrest, from Rothsay, Southern Ohio,” Josephine replied,
with a conscious blush which told much to the experienced man of the
world.
“Forrest! Everard Forrest!” the doctor repeated thoughtfully, and the
smile about his mouth was more perceptible. “Seems to me I have heard
that name before. Where did you say he lived, and where is he now?”
Josephine replied again that Mr. Forrest’s home was in Rothsay, Ohio, at
a grand old place called Forrest House; that he was a student at
Amherst, and was spending his summer vacation with a friend in
Ellicottville.
“Yes, I understand,” the doctor rejoined, adding, after a moment’s
pause: “I’ll be the priest; but suppose I had the power to marry you in
earnest; what then?”
“Oh, you wouldn’t. You must not. Everard is not through college, and it
would be so very dreadful—and romantic, too,” the girl said, as she
looked searchingly into the dark eyes meeting hers so steadily.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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