I turned on them. I can't remember a word I said, but
speak I did, and in a way that astonished them; they shrank back
from me, looking pale and frightened. I felt in that moment that I
was a thousand times their superior; I believe I told them so. Then
I rushed up to my room, packed my box, and went out into the street.
"I had just turned a corner, when some one came up to me, and it was
Mr. Bolter. He had followed me from the house. He laughed, said I
had done quite right, and asked me if I had any money. I shook my
head. He walked on by me, and talked. The end was, that he found me
rooms, and provided for me.
"I had not the least affection for him, but he had pleasant,
gentlemanly ways, and it scarcely even occurred to me to refuse his
offers. I was reckless; what happened to me mattered little, as long
as I had not to face hard work. I needed rest. For one in my
position there was, I saw well enough, only one way of getting it. I
took that way."
Ida had told this in a straightforward, unhesitating manner, not
meeting her companion's gaze, yet not turning away. One would have
said that judgments upon her story were indifferent to her; she
simply related past events.
Pages:
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265