A Colonial Wooing
was gone! Had she bribed these Indians to carry her off? How he linked her name with his in his wild talk! and, alas! how eagerly his audiences accepted all his absurd suggestions! It is strange, but how they had been mistaken in William Blake! What a fine fellow he was, truly! Of course no one but a fool would have done as he did; but then, he was a fool, and a gaping crowd will follow one rather than a philosopher.
William went to Watson's, and was received as a guest, notwithstanding the protest of Ruth's mother; but her husband insisted that the man was misunderstood, and she should not be prejudiced by the world's people who spoke against him. He had property, was industrious and devoted to her daughter, and only that child's perversity and waywardness had thwarted his wishes, for William might to-day have been successfully in trade and Ruth's accepted suitor. Anne Watson shuddered as she heard these words; repeating the most distasteful ones beneath her breath, "Ruth's husband," and, as she
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