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"But won't you tell me your adventures?" she begged. It required a few leading questions to start him but at length he told the story in a manner that compelled her interest. "You see," he concluded, "it was the lack of definite knowledge as much as the natural obstacles that brought us back and I've been troubled about the thing since we landed." Jessy's manner invited his confidence.
Nairn had told her; but, although she had on one occasion had the testimony of her eyes in support of it, Jessy's first statement seemed incredible. "It's impossible!" Jessy smiled in a bitter manner. "It's unpleasant, but it can't be denied. He undoubtedly pays the rent of a shack in the neighborhood I mentioned." Evelyn sat tensely still for a moment or two.
He was very rich, without an occupation or an object, and Jessy's pure, lovely face haunted him day and night, and supplied him with a purpose. "He came to me one day and offering me a large sum of money, asked me finally to reveal at least the locality of which I had painted the picture.
She stopped when she met Maria, and gave a little, shy look her old little-girl look at her. Maria also stopped. "Good-morning, Jessy," said she. Then she asked how she was, if her cough was better, and where she was going to work. Then, suddenly, to Jessy's utter amazement and rapture, she kissed her. "I never forget what a good little girl you were," said she, and was gone.
"So you have come back! Have you succeeded in your search?" Vane was gratified. It was pleasant to feel that she was interested in his undertaking. "No," he confessed. "For the time being, I'm afraid I have failed." There was reproach in Jessy's voice when she answered. "Then you have disappointed me!"
Yet instinctively they both sought to keep apart; and if by chance they met, the grave courtesy of the one and the sweet dignity of the other left nothing for evil hopes or thoughts to feed upon. One morning, two years after Jessy's marriage, I received a note from Petralto, asking me to call upon him immediately.
The instincts of generations of gently-reared Englishwomen were aroused, as well as the revulsion of an untainted nature from something unclean. Jessy's cheeks turned crimson and a malevolent light flashed into her eyes as she crossed the street. Mrs. Nairn noticed her expression and smiled at her companion.
"Yet I did not know how much Jessy really was to me until I suddenly found out that her father had sent her back to Scotland, under the pretence of finishing her education. I had been so honorably considerate of Jessy's Puritan principles that I felt this hasty, secret movement exceedingly unkind and unjust.
"In not pursuing her I was following Jessy's own request and obeying my own plighted promise. It was understood between us that I should wait patiently until Jessy was twenty-one. Even Scotch customs would then have regarded her as her own mistress and acknowledged her right to marry as she desired; and if I did not write, she has not wanted constant tokens of my remembrance.
It was exceedingly difficult to believe the charge, but Jessy's assertion was definite enough, and one which, if incorrect, could readily be disproved. Nobody would say such a thing unless it could be substantiated; and that led Evelyn to consider why Jessy had given her the information.
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