She spoke not a word, but rose up hastily with the intent to fly from his hateful presence.
"Now don't, my darling, don't run away from me," he said, intercepting her.

"I'm sure you couldn't have the heart, if you knew how I have lived for years upon the hope of such a meeting: for my love for you, dearest Elsie, has never lessened, the ardor of my passion has never cooled----" "Enough, sir," she said, drawing herself up, her eyes kindling and flashing as he had never thought they could; "how dare you insult me by such words, and by your presence here?
Let me pass." "Insult you, Miss Dinsmore ?" he cried, in affected surprise.

"You were not wont, in past days, to consider my presence an insult, and I could never have believed fickleness a part of your nature.

You are now of age, and have a right to listen to my defense, and my suit for your heart and hand." "Are you mad?
Can you still suppose me ignorant of your true character and your history for years past?
Know then that I am fully acquainted with them; that I know you to be a lover of vice and the society of the vicious--a drunkard, profane, a gambler, and one who has stained his hands with the blood of a fellow-creature," she added with a shudder.

"I pray God you may repent and be forgiven; but you are not and can never be anything to me." "So with all your piety you forsake your friends when they get into trouble," he remarked with a bitter sneer.
"Friend of mine you never were," she answered quietly; "I know it was my fortune and not myself you really wanted.