But her refusal aroused all Philip's antagonism. He was one who could never bear to be balked in anything, and her statement that she knew 'now' that she did not love him stirred him to fiercest jealousy. What had led her to such a conclusion? he asked himself. Perhaps she had met some one else who had awakened the affection which he so coveted, and this possible solution of the problem made him furious.
For the moment he forgot her poverty; forgot that he had vowed he would never marry any girl who did not possess an ample fortune. He only remembered that he loved her--had always loved her, and rich or poor he was determined to carry his point, if by any possible means he could achieve it, even though he should rudely trample upon her heart after he had won it.
"Mollie!" he cried appealingly, "you do not mean it--you cannot be so cruel as to blight all my hopes, after so many years of devotion to you. You know that I have loved you ever since we were children; you know that I have always expected that you would give yourself to me, and do you think that I can easily surrender you now?"
Mollie wondered what made her shrink involuntarily every time he mentioned his love for her. There was something that grated harshly upon her in his every tone, and she experienced a singular distrust of him.
"I am truly sorry, Phil, if you have really been cherishing this hope for so long," she returned after a moment of thoughtful silence, "for, to be perfectly frank with you, I have believed everything to be at an end between us ever since I left Boston. I am very quick to feel any change in my friends, and I was sure, when the financial crash came to my father, that a union between you and me would be regarded as a great misfortune for you. I inferred this both from your own manner and your mother's when you made your farewell call upon me at the Adams House. I also observed it in the tone of your letters afterward, and when they finally ceased altogether, as I have already said, I regarded the matter as finally settled, as far as you were concerned, and, as I had arrived at a knowledge of my own attitude toward you, I was perfectly content. You perceive that I am very plain with you, and now let me add, Phil, that you will yet make the discovery that some other woman will make you happier than I ever could have done."