Rose shuddered and grew white, yet she dared not advance, dared not
interrupt the scene presented to her gaze. Eavesdropping was foreign to
her nature, yet at that moment it was not in her power to recede, and so
she was held in her tracks--compelled to listen to words that rent her
heart like death itself.
"My dear, you wrong me when you imagine that I care for any one but you.
I did disapprove of your following me here, for you know that I must
depend upon my wits for a living, and I think I might do better without
the incumbrance of a wife."
"Oh, that is the same old argument. You have put me off with it time and
again. I wish you would consent to do as other people do, and live an
honest life."
"But I cannot. I must ever appear as a single man, for it would not do to
let it be known that I have a wife. Zounds, Iris, I would be out of
business in short order."
For some moments silence followed these words.
The rather pretty woman whom the gentleman had termed his wife still
clung to the neck of her liege lord, evidently too much wrought up to
speak again.
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