"Well?" It was tenderly said, and gave him courage.
"If you are careful," she added with a light laugh.
"Exactly. I can do a great deal for you, and will----"
"Yes, conditionally. The conditions are that you live quietly at an elegant place to which we will shortly be driven. You will be mistress of the place; that is, you will have everything you can desire----"
She was shrewder than he--in fact, his master already; but hinted at the sale of her soul so heartlessly that it shocked even him.
"You had 'respectability' at home, Lilly; and," glancing at her plain garments, which were a burlesque upon her beautiful figure, "and old clothes, and surveillance, and restraint, and----"
"Bland," she said, springing to her feet with such violence as to send him sprawling to the floor, from which he stared in amazement at her magnificent form, which trembled like a leaf, while the wicked lightning gleamed from her eyes, and swift shuttles of color flashed back and forth upon her lips; "Bland, be careful! Never speak to me again of the meanness of my home. The meanness of your black heart is a million times greater. You have something more than a country girl to deal with, sir; you have a woman and a woman's will. It is enough that I have sold my body and soul for what you can, or might, give me. I bargained for no contempt; and, Bland," she continued, advancing towards him fiercely as he regained his feet and retreated from her in dismay, "as sure as there is a heaven, and as sure as there ought to be a hell for such as we, if you begin it, I will kill you! Yes," she hissed, "I will kill you!" and then, woman-like, having passed the climax of feeling and expression, she threw herself on the bed for a good cry, while Bland, with wine and words and countless caresses, soothed her wild spirit, bringing her back to pliant good nature, where she was as putty in his dexterous hands.
Tells how the Rev. Mr. Bland preached a Funeral Sermon.-- Shows a dainty Cottage, holding more than the Neighbors knew.-- Installs Lilly as a Clergyman's Mistress.-- Reverts to a Desolate Home.-- Introduces Dick Hosford, a returned "Forty-Niner," who begins a despairing Search.-- And shows that unholy, as well as true Love, does not always run smoothly.