For you were always
sneering at my James; you always looked down upon him
in your heart, you know it!" She turned back to Jim.
"And now when he is rich," she began, and then swooped
again on me. "For you are rich, I dare you to deny it;
I defy you to look me in the face and try to deny that
you are rich--rich with our money--my husband's money--
--
Heaven knows to what a height she might have risen,
being, by this time, bodily whirled away in her own
hurricane of words. Heart-sickness, a black
depression, a treacherous sympathy with my assailant,
pity unutterable for poor Jim, already filled, divided,
and abashed my spirit. Flight seemed the only remedy,
and making a private sign to Jim, as if to ask
permission, I slunk from the unequal field.
I was but a little way down the street, when I was
arrested by the sound of some one running, and Jim's
voice calling me by name. He had followed me with a
letter which had been long awaiting my return.
I took it in a dream. "This has been a devil of a
business," said I.
"Don't think hard of Mamie," he pleaded.
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