“I was shocked at what seemed to me such indecent haste, especially when there had been a death so recently in the family, and I rebelled; besides, the idea of promising to marry a man whom I had never seen, and who, for aught I knew, might not be attracted to me, was horrible. She demanded a promise of obedience; I was high-spirited and refused to give it, and even threatened to leave her and return to America to escape you. Thereupon she locked me in my room, telling me that I should remain there a prisoner until I relented and came to her terms. This only made matters worse, arousing a feeling of antagonism and obstinacy within me; and one day, when Mrs. Rochester and Sarah were out driving, I bribed the maid, who was left to guard me, to let me run away. She sympathized with me, and agreed to the proposal. She even packed my trunk, and had it secretly taken out to a carriage which she ordered. I went directly to Calais, then to Dover, and from there to London. I remained there for a few weeks, trying to find some congenial employment, when, one day, I met a man who had once been a servant in our family. “This meeting frightened me so I went to Liverpool, boarded a steamer, and sailed directly to Boston, where I arrived one dreary day in November. I had very little money left when I reached that city and felt like a stranger in a strange land, although America was my native country. I had never had to depend upon myself for a livelihood, but I knew that I must now do something. A happy inspiration led me to the City Hospital, for I believed that my experience in the sick-room of my father had fitted me for a nurse. The superintendent appeared to be pleased with me, even agreeing to give me a trial without the required recommendations and—the rest you know already, True.” “My darling, what a sad experience you have had!” said Dr. Winthrop sadly. “It is no wonder that you rebelled against that wretched contract; but you need not have feared me. I was no less averse to it, for I felt that two men had no right to thus control the destinies of others. Still I had promised that I would meet you, and only the breaking out of an epidemic in New York prevented my arriving in Berlin before your father’s death. I wrote, explaining the delay, but it seems that my letter was never received. I intended, if we were pleased with each other, to ask you to be my wife, but I should never have urged the union—I could never have made any woman my wife against her will, even though a dozen fortunes were to be won by such a measure.” “And I imagined that you were eager for the marriage,” replied Salome. “I thought you were coming to us to make it merely a matter of business, and I should be sacrificed at any cost. If I could have but known how well I should love you, how happy we might have been!” she concluded with a sigh.