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Page 14
"Girl! girls of
twenty-six
Are so far on as to know wrong from right."
So she broke in.
But Gervase cried out still
"How could you do it? Women have such heart!
Show them another woman in a fault,
It is to show your terrier dog a rat -
Harry and tear and kill...'tis their good luck!
A rare day's sport, and all in duty's way!
But you, you made the fault. What fault was there
In love like ours?" She said "There was no harm
If you had been the first, but since" - He took
No heed, seemed not to know she spoke. "Aye so
You've hounded her into the streets to beg,
Or starve for what you care. I'll never breathe
The air that you breathe, seem to know your name,
I'll never hear a word of you or yours,
Till I have my own Lota. You shall ask
Forgiveness of her yet."
And so he went
In haste and heat, while she cried after him
"Oh you are mad or cheated."
Evelyn stood
To speak a little word to promise him
That she was Lota's friend, but he dashed past
And could not see her with his angry eyes.
So friendship snapped; and Gervase turned his back
On that familiar house, and left behind
Uneasy sorrow. But the aunt made show
Of only anger - Lota was henceforth
No care of hers; let her go where she would;
She never could be one with them again:
And Gervase, wilful, wicked as it seemed,
Was such a man as must be kept aloof.
And Ethel chimed in so; and Constance sighed
And hoped and wondered and condemned by turns;
But Evelyn always said "There is no harm,"
Chafing her mother who, kind at the core
But of harsh judgment, easily accused,
And, loving justice, hated to be taxed
With a rash verdict, and would score up proofs
From every trifle said or done or dreamed
To keep herself convinced of what she urged.
And then too Gervase had given some hard words
Which rankled, and it was a present balm
To think the worst of him ... a leper left
To his shunned way, apart from her and hers.
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