"I should like to shake you, Janet Abercrombie."
"Very well."
"How can I convince you that you are doing great wrong to yourself? I do not speak of the pain you give your friends,—you give me."
"Duncan," I said, "I cannot submit to this. Is it not enough for me to bear the grief of my own life, without having to hear yon charge me with ruining yours? What is to hinder you from loving some one young and sweet, from marrying her, and being happy with her?"
"What is to hinder?" he repeated. "You. You hinder. Why are you so hard-hearted? Is it Napoleon Garlic who now stands between us?"
How could I help but laugh, and like one insane? I could not cry, and I laughed and could not control myself. And Duncan was hurt and vexed, and he told me that I cared as little for the dead as for the living.
"I cannot comprehend you. Surely you do not think I want your money? You know that I loved you before you heard of it."
"Oh, yes," I answered. "I do not think any one will want to marry me for my money!"
"Have you lost it ? Is this the reason you are living in poverty?"
"I cannot tell you," I said. "There are reasons why I cannot discuss it."
"But you will have to speak of it. Every one knows about it. You cannot make a mystery of it. Your friends have wondered enough over the absurd stories told of you."
"That cannot be!"
"But it is. What else could you expect? You claim an immense fortune, you spring a tale of marriage, of widowhood, on people who have thought you unmarried. What else can you expect?"
I turned from him, bitterly wounded. It is hard to be defenceless, and to be given over to one's friends for discussion.
"And Juliet?" I asked. "What does Juliet say to all this?"
"She is in London."
"And people say such things of me?"
"What things? Naturally the widow Garlic interests the people who knew Miss Abercrombie."
"The 'widow Garlic'!" I cried. "Who calls me that?"
"I do."
"Perhaps you came to Theresa asking for me by that name?"
"I called you Mrs. Garlic. How could I expect you to repudiate your name? I fancied you with plenty of money, relieving the poor. Certainly I asked for Mrs. Garlic."
"You need never do so again. I like Abercrombie best,—Janet Abercrombie,—Miss Janet Abercrombie."
"Why do you so hate the name?"
"It is evil. To speak it is to invoke trouble, Duncan. There is a curse on them, from Aaron Garlic down."
"Was the son cruel to you? Has he ruined your future, as in some mysterious way he has your past?"
