It was brother George who--"
"Never mind that, now! You say he tries to be fair, and yet do you
suppose it ever occurs to him that I'm doing my simple duty? That I'm
doing what my father would do if he were alive? That I'm doing what
my father would ask me to do if he could speak from his grave out
yonder? Do you suppose it ever occurs to that man for one minute that
I'm protecting my mother?" George raised his voice, advancing upon
the helpless lady fiercely; and she could only bend her head before
him. "He talks about my 'Will'--how it must be beaten down; yes, and
he asks my mother to do that little thing to please him! What for?
Why does he want me 'beaten' by my mother? Because I'm trying to
protect her name! He's got my mother's name bandied up and down the
streets of this town till I can't step in those streets without
wondering what every soul I meet is thinking of me and of my family,
and now he wants you to marry him so that every gossip in town will
say 'There! What did I tell you? I guess that proves it's true!'
You can't get away from it; that's exactly what they'd say, and this
man pretends he cares for you, and yet asks you to marry him and give
them the right to say it.
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