The Soldier's Wife — page 27: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

16 THE SOLDIER'S WIFE. ee woman cf the same rank in the whole neigh-;drive them out of you. He at least 1s disposed ae ' borhood—I might ever say in the whole county ;/of: he will get 10 work from any tenant of the a and mature has been most bountiful to you, Baronet’s—and so he must tramp away fro You have a right. then, to raise your looks high:|the village. I don’t think you will be in and in a word, you may aspire to a splendid |dient enough to maintain any clandestine position” respondence with him; and I should be sorry to “T do not understanc you, father,” said Lacy, |have to say that I will keep a wateh upon you. trembling and shuddering: for the thought | But this Ido tell you—that you must follow the struck her that her parent had perhaps already course I point out. By heaven, girl! the pread- fixed upon a husband to whom he purposed to! est position is within your reach: I know it—J sacrifice her. have calculated all the chances—I have planned “T wish that I could see you as any other jall that must bedone—I have set my heart upon young woman would be, if placed in such favor-|it—it has become the whole and sole aim of my able circumstances—anxious to make a good |life—and if now that the time is at hand when match—determined to avail yourself of oppor-|the scheme is to be carried out, 1 am to be tunities—playing your cards well, in short thwarted by any maudlin nonsense on your part, Now do you comprehend me ?” it will be a bitter day for you that you thus fly “No, father— most certainly I do not ?;-—and jin your father’s face.” Lucy spoke the honest truth; for she was be-| An ejaculation almost amounting toa shriek, wildered and amazed at this language, 80 novel | burst from Lucy’s lips, as Mr. Davis thus con- from her father’s lips, and so ominous in respect cluded his speech. The veil had indeed dropped to her own cherished ideas of happiness, from her father’s character: she suddenly be- “Then I must be explicit,” observed Davis|held him in his true light—a thorough worldly- quickly : “ for after what has occurred this even-|minded, unscrupulous man, bent upon carrying ing it is useless to conceal my views any longer.|out his ambitious aims by any means and at Lucey,” he added, bending forward and looking |any sacrifice of his child’s happiness. Oh! it is his daughter full in the face, “ which would vou ja terrible moment when a daughter who has rather do—become the wife of a wretched la-| hitherto looked upon her father as a thoroughly borer and dwell in a beggarly lodging, or es- | honest and strictly conscientious individual, findg nouse a young gentleman of rank, with a cer-|her belief so abruptly shattered, and the source tainty of possessing a fine fortune, and living in |of filial veneration dried up in a moment, like a @ mansion 4” spring that disappears in the bosom of the soil The answer which the girl’s heart prompted, | whence it has been accustomed to well forth. was an affirmative reply to the first portion of |“ Now, Lucy, I have spoken out plainly,” said his question: but she was too much overwhelm-|Mr. Davis, no lenger affecting any studied ca- ed with mingled consternation and amazement | jolery of language, but speaking with the stern to be able to give utterance to any response at|bluntness of one who has developed a_proiget all. A suspicion of her father’s meaning—but/and means to be obeyed by the instrum¢nt ne- still dim and vague—had arisen in her mind:|cessary for carrying it out: “I bave spoken avd yet while on the one hand she fancied it} plainly, 1 say—and 1 am glad that I have made must be impossible, yet on the other did aja clean breast of it. You at length know what secret voic® whisper that it was really as she|l mean; and itis for you to obey. Iam sure suspected. that when you come te think calmly upon the “ Now, Lucy,” continued Davis, scarcely able ;affair, you will fall into my views. You would to suppress an ejaculation of impatience at not} be mad if you didnot. But it is impossible that being at once understood, “you are a girl of good| you have no ambition: every handsome and in- sense and you must understand my meaning.|telligent young woman has. You will get over D@you wish me to speak it out plain? Well,|/this sentimental love fit of your’s much svoner I wil. Ina word then, I am convinced that i [than you expect—particularly when you see ou choose, you may become a lady—a real)that my scheme begins to work well and that sad at ovce by marriage and a lady too|the fish nibbles at the bait.” by title in due course.” “ Father, no more—no more !” almost shrieked Still did Luey gaze upon her father in vacant | forth Lucy, as she started from her seat. “ Even bewilderment. Her suspicions seemed con-|if my heart were not pledged to~another, I firmed: she fancied that she comprehended | would not lend myself to such a scheme as this, him—and yet she dared not say to herself that |No, 1 would not.” it wasso. If she did, her father would suddenly} “But I say that you shall!” ejaculated her appear to her in a new light—as a bold in-|father fiercely ; and seizing her by the wrist riguer—an unscrupulous manceuvrer ; aud her| with a sudden wrench, almost brutal in its vio- mure soul recoiled trom the idea of regarding |lence, he compelled her to sit down again bien as such, She felt asif she were in a dream,|* There has been too much nonsense already, with her thoughts in confusion, yet a strange|and I will put up with it no longer, Instead of sinister light penetrating their cloudiness, ‘lhe}covering you with reproaches for your secret solor had forsaken her cheeks —she sat still and | meetings with that fellow Lonsdale, I spoke to motionless, in a sort of fright that was subdued] you kindly : but if kindness will not do, 1 shall by dismay. show you that 1 know how to use harshness, | “ Lucy, won’t you understand me ¢* exclaimec’ | tell you that it is in your power to ensnare the her father, with anger in his tone. “'lhis is toc} heart of that half idiot boy Gerald Redburn, in | much. If all your thoughts are bent upon that'so inextricable a maze that to possess you, he goml-for nothing fellow, I shall know how tol wil’ consent to any thing. Of course 1 mean Eomicbooks:com —