FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114  
115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   >>   >|  
a question of money, the count's fortune?" "Miss Brandon!" "No, it is not that, I see. I was quite sure of it. What, then, can it be? Tell me, sir, I beseech you! tell me something." What could he tell her? Daniel remained silent. "Very well," said Sarah, clinching her teeth convulsively. "I understand." She made a supreme effort not to break out in sobs; and big tears, resembling diamonds of matchless beauty, rolled slowly down from between her long, trembling eyelashes. "Yes," she said, "I understand. The atrocious calumnies which my enemies have invented have reached you; and you have believed them. They have, no doubt, told you that I am an adventuress, come from nowhere; that my father, the brave defender of the Union, exists only in the painting in my parlor; that no one knows where my income comes from; that Thorn, that noble soul, and Mrs. Brian, a saint upon earth, are vile accomplices of mine. Confess, you have been told all that, and you have believed it." Grand in her wrath, her cheeks burning, her lips trembling, she rose, and added in a tone of bitter sarcasm,-- "Ah! When people are called upon to admire a noble deed, they refuse to believe, they insist upon inquiring before they admire, they examine carefully. But, if they are told something bad, they dispense with that ceremony; however monstrous the thing may appear, however improbable it may sound, they believe it instantly. They would not touch a child; but they do not hesitate to repeat a slander which dishonors a woman, and kills her as surely as a dagger. If I were a man, and had been told that Miss Brandon was an adventuress, I would have been bent upon ascertaining the matter. America is not so far off. I should have soon found the ten thousand men who had served under Gen. Brandon, and they would have told me what sort of a man their chief had been. I should have examined the oil-regions of Pennsylvania; and I would have learned there that the petroleum-wells belonging to M. Elgin, Mrs. Brian, and Miss Brandon produce more than many a principality." Daniel was amazed at the candor and the boldness with which this young girl approached the terrible subject. To enable her to speak with such energy and in such a tone, she must either be possessed of unsurpassed impudence, or--he had to confess it--be innocent. Overcome by the effort she had made, she had sunk back upon the sofa, and continued in a lower tone of voice, as if s
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114  
115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Brandon

 

understand

 

believed

 
effort
 
trembling
 

adventuress

 
admire
 

Daniel

 

thousand

 

America


matter
 

slander

 

instantly

 

improbable

 

ceremony

 
monstrous
 

hesitate

 

dagger

 

surely

 
repeat

dishonors

 
ascertaining
 

petroleum

 

energy

 

possessed

 

enable

 

approached

 
terrible
 

subject

 

unsurpassed


impudence

 

continued

 

confess

 

innocent

 

Overcome

 

boldness

 

examined

 

regions

 

Pennsylvania

 

learned


principality

 

amazed

 

candor

 

belonging

 

produce

 

served

 
matchless
 

diamonds

 

beauty

 

rolled