I was afraid that if I
spoke first you wouldn't let him come. And it was important--I must see
him and talk to him and think about it. You can realize mother and
Kingsfrere!"
"Where did you meet him?" he demanded shortly.
"With Eliza, at a meeting," she went on more rapidly. "He's terribly
brilliant, and a steel man. Isn't it funny? The Pennys were steel, too;
or iron, and that's the same. I wish you could be nice to him or just
decent, until--until I know."
"Mariana!" he exclaimed, rising. "You don't mean that you are really--.
That you--"
"Perhaps, Howat," she answered gravely. "I have only seen him twice; and
he has said nothing; but, you see, I am an experienced young woman. No
other man has made the same impression."
"That," he declared coldly, "is unthinkable. You can't know all the
facts."
"I do; but, somehow, I don't care."
"Everything about him is impossible--his history, family ... Why, Eunice
Scofield, well, Penny, married a man from behind a counter, a fellow who
sold womens' gloves; yes, and more than half Jew. And this man's mother
was Delia Mullen, a daughter of the dirty ward leader. All this aside
from--from his bad blood."
"It's partly yours, you know," she said quietly. "After all, there are
other places I can see him.
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