"
"You suppose it's large, and you know nothing about such things!" cried
the bailiff, with an air of supreme irritation. "I don't believe any man
was ever plagued with such an aggravating daughter as mine. What do you
say to being mistress of such a place, girl?--mistress of close upon four
hundred acres of land; not another man's servant, bound to account for
every blade of grass and every ear of corn, as I am, but free and
independent mistress of the place, with the chance of being left a widow
by and by, and having it all under your own thumb; what do you say to
that?"
"Only the same that I have always said, father. Nothing would ever
persuade me to marry Stephen Whitelaw. I'd rather starve."
"And you shall starve, if you stick to that," roared William Carley with
a blasphemous oath. "But you won't be such a fool, Nell. You'll hear
reason; you won't stand out against your poor old father and against your
own interests. The long and the short of it is, I've given Whitelaw my
promise that you shall be his wife between this and Easter."
"What!" exclaimed Ellen, with a faint cry of horror; "you don't mean that
you've promised that, father! You can't mean it!"
"I can and do mean it, lass."
"Then you've made a promise that will never be kept. You might have known
as much when you made it.
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