"It isn't for her to say what she wants or doesn't want!" exclaimed the man savagely. "I shall look to you to bring the girl round to your way of thinking, without any nonsense. Do you hear and comprehend?" "Yes," said the old man, wearily. "But that isn't making Bernardine understand. Some young girls are very willful!" Trembling with apprehension, the old basket-maker dropped into the nearest chair. His haggard face had grown terribly pale, and his emaciated hands shook, while his eyes fairly bulged from their sockets. The agony of mind he was undergoing was intense. "Will Bernardine refuse this man?" he muttered to himself, "Oh, if I but dared tell her all, would she pity, or would she blame me?" He loved the girl after his fashion; but to save himself, he was willing to sacrifice her. Poor Bernardine! Had she but known all! CHAPTER XII. "YOU ARE FALSE AS YOU ARE FAIR, BERNARDINE!" "I should think your own common sense would tell you. Surely you must have guessed what I am so eager to say, Miss Bernardine?" Jasper Wilde began, taking little heed of her father. The girl's white lips opened, but no sound came from them. He was right; she quite expected it; but she did not tell him so. "I might as well break right into the subject at once," he said. "My errand can be told in a few words. I have fallen deeply in love with your pretty face, and I am here to ask you to marry me. Mind, I say to marry me! What do you think of it?" The girl drew back hurriedly. "I think you might have guessed what my answer would have been, and thus saved yourself." Again his face darkened, and an angry fire leaped into his eyes; but he controlled himself by a great effort. "Why do you refuse me?" he asked. "I am a big catch, especially for a girl like you. Come, I have taken a notion to you, Bernardine, and that's saying a good deal." "Spare yourself the trouble of uttering another word, Mr. Wilde," she said with dignity. "I would not, I could not marry you under any circumstances. It is as well for you to know that." "So you think now; but I fancy we can change all that; can't we, Moore?" The old basket-maker's lips moved, but no sound came from them; the terror in his eyes became more apparent with each moment. "I will never change my decision," said Bernardine. Jasper Wilde drew his chair up nearer to the girl. "Listen to me, Bernardine," he said. "You shall marry me, by all the gods above and all the demons below! I have never been thwarted in any wish or desire of my life. I shall not be thwarted in this!" "You would not wish me to marry you against my will?" said the girl. "That would make little difference to me," he rejoined. "You will like me well enough after you marry me; so never fear about that." "I do not propose to marry you," replied Bernardine, rising 

 Prev. P 25/179 next