Part 40 (2/2)
”Stop, Giulia!” commanded her companion, sternly. ”I will have no scene here to create a scandal among the servants. I intended to see you within a day or two; but, since you have sought me, we may as well at once come to an understanding. Did you think that you could hold me all my life? A man in my position must have a home in which to receive his friends, also a mistress in it to entertain them--”
”Have you forgotten all your vows and promises to me?” interposed Giulia, in tremulous tones; ”that you swore everlasting fidelity to me?”
”A man vows a great many things that he finds he cannot fulfill,” was the unfeeling response. ”Surely, Giulia, you must realize that neither your birth nor education could ent.i.tle you to such a position as my wife must occupy.”
”My birth was respectable, my education the best my country afforded,”
said the girl, with white lips. ”Had you no intention of marrying me when you enticed me from my home to cross the ocean with you?”
”No.”
The monosyllable seemed to fall like a heavy blow upon the girl's heart, for she s.h.i.+vered, and her face was distorted with agony.
”Oh, had you no heart? Why did you do such a fiendish thing?” she cried.
”Because you were pretty and agreeable, and I liked pleasant company.
I have been accustomed to have whatever I wished for all my life.”
”And you never loved me?”
”Oh, yes, for nearly three years I was quite fond of you--really, Giulia, I consider that I have been as faithful to you as you could expect.”
”Oh, wretch! but you love this other girl more?”
”It would be worse than useless to attempt to deceive you on that point,” said the man, his whole face softening at this mention of Edith.
”You lied to me, then, Emil Correlli!” cried the miserable woman, hoa.r.s.ely; ”you swore to me that the girl was nothing to you--that she was simply your sister's companion.”
”And I simply told you the truth,” he retorted. ”She was nothing to me at that time; she was 'only my sister's companion.' However,” he added, straightening himself haughtily, ”there is no use in wrangling over the matter any further. I married Edith Allen the night before last, and henceforth she will be the mistress of my home. I confess it is a trifle hard on you, Giulia,” he continued, speaking in a conciliatory tone, ”but you must try to be sensible about it. I will settle a comfortable annuity upon you, and you can either go back to your parents or make a pleasant home for yourself somewhere in this country.”
”And what of this boy?” questioned the discarded girl, laying her trembling hand upon the head of her child, who was looking from one to the other, a wondering expression on his young face.
Emil Correlli's lips twitched spasmodically for a moment. He would never have confessed it to a human being, but the little one was the dearest object the world held for him.
”I will provide handsomely for his future,” he said, after considering for a minute. ”If you will give him up to me he shall be reared as carefully as any gentleman's son, and, when he attains a proper age, I will establish him in some business or profession that will enable him to make his mark in the world.”
”You would take him away from me to do this?” Giulia exclaimed, as she pa.s.sionately caught her darling to her breast.
”That would be necessary, in order to carry out my purpose as I wish,”
the man coldly replied.
”Never! You are a monster in human form to suggest such a thing. Do you think I would ever give him up to you?”
”Just as you choose,” her companion remarked, indifferently. ”I have made you the proposition, and you can accept or reject it as you see fit, but if I take him, I cannot have his future hampered by any environments or a.s.sociations that would be likely to mar his life.”
”Coward!” the word was thrown at him in a way that stung him like a lash, ”do you dare twit me for what you alone are to blame? Where is your honor--where your humanity? Have you forgotten how you used every art to persuade me to leave the shelter of my pleasant home--the protection of my honest father and mother, to come hither with you?
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