"
"But you didn't tell him yes," interrupted Nina. "You couldn't.
You didn't love him. It's wicked to act a lie Miggie--as wicked as
'tis to tell one. Say you told him no; it chokes me just to think
of it."
"Nina," and Edith's voice was low and earnest in its tone, "I
thought about it four whole weeks and at last I went to Richard
and said, 'I will be your wife.' I have never taken it back, I am
engaged to him, and I shall keep my word. Were it not that you
sent for me I should have been his bride ere this. I shall be his
bride on New Year's night."
Edith spoke rapidly, as if anxious to have the task completed, and
when at last it was done, she felt that her strength was leaving
her, so great had been the effort with which she told her story to
Nina. Gradually as she talked Nina had crept away from her, and
sitting upright in bed, stared at her fixedly, her face for once
putting on the mature dignity of her years, and seeming older than
Edith's. Then the clear-minded, rational Nina spoke out, "Miggie
Bernard, were you ten thousand times engaged to Richard, it shall
not be.
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