Bigamy -- Fiction; Domestic fiction; England -- Fiction; Married women -- Fiction
“It may be a’ the same to _you,_ now ye’ve married the other man,
whether Jaffray Delamayn ance promised ye fair in the by-gone time,
or no.” Those words presented Anne’s position before her in a light in
which she had not seen it yet. She had truly expressed the loathing that
Geoffrey now inspired in her, when she had declared, in her letter to
Arnold, that, even if he offered her marriage, in atonement for the
past, she would rather be what she was than be his wife. It had never
occurred to her, until this moment, that others would misinterpret the
sensitive pride which had prompted the abandonment of her claim on the
man who had ruined her. It had never been brought home to her until now,
that if she left him contemptuously to go his own way, and sell himself
to the first woman who had money enough to buy him, her conduct would
sanction the false conclusion that she was powerless to interfere,
because she was married already to another man. The color that had risen
in her face vanished, and left it deadly pale again. She began to see
that the purpose of her journey to the north was not completed yet.
“I will give you your receipt,” she said. “Tell me what to write, and it
shall be written.”
Bishopriggs dictated the receipt. She wrote and signed it. He put it in
his pocket-book with the five-pound note, and handed her the letter in
exchange.
“Tear it if ye will,” he said. “It matters naething to _me._”
For a moment she hesitated. A sudden shuddering shook her from head to
foot--the forewarning, it might be, of the influence which that letter,
saved from destruction by a hair’s-breadth, was destined to exercise on
her life to come. She recovered herself, and folded her cloak closer to
her, as if she had felt a passing chill.
“No,” she said; “I will keep the letter.”
She folded it and put it in the pocket of her dress. Then turned to
go--and stopped at the door.
“One thing more,” she added. “Do you know Mrs. Glenarm’s present
address?”
“Ye’re no’ reely going to Mistress Glenarm?”
“That is no concern of yours. You can answer my question or not, as you
please.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account