"
"Dexie, what do you mean?" was the quick reply. "What has he said or done
that you speak like this?"
"Let us go to the summer-house, Lancy, and I think I can satisfy your mind
on one point, and that is, if I fail to appreciate your attentions as you
think they deserve, you need not lay the blame on Hugh McNeil," and,
standing under the shadow of the swinging vines, Dexie related the
substance of the interview on the kitchen roof the evening before they left
Halifax.
"The scoundrel! and he dared to threaten you, and was actually going to
throw you from the roof! Why did you not tell me, Dexie, and I would have
horsewhipped him if it had cost me my life!" And he dug his heel into the
gravel, as if he had his enemy beneath it.
"Don't, Lancy; it is all over, so try to forget it. I know that Hugh felt
sorry for his burst of temper the moment after, but he could not unsay the
words, and I would not forgive them--that is why he felt so badly when we
parted on the train. I did not intend to tell you of it, Lancy; so do not
look so vexed."
"Oh! if I only could lay my hands on him, I would pay him for his impudence
and brutality! but, Dexie, were you not very frightened?" and he clasped
her hands in his own, and looked earnestly into her face.
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