The effect must have surprised them, for Elvira turned on her aunt in
one of those fits of passion which sometimes seized her, accused her
vehemently of having poisoned the happiness of her life, and taken
her from the only man she could ever love. She said and threatened
all sorts of desperate things; and then the poor child, exhausted by
her own violence, collapsed, and let herself be cowed and terrified
in her turn by her aunt's vulgar sneers and cold determination.
Yet still she held out against the marriage. "I told them it would
be wicked," she said. "And when I went to Church, all the Psalms and
everything said it would be wicked. Then Lisette said it was wicked
to love a married man, and I said I didn't know, I couldn't help it,
but it would be more wicked to vow I would love a man whom I hated,
and should hate more every day of my life. Then they said I might
have a civil marriage, and not vow anything at all, and I told them
that would seem to me no better than not being married at all. Oh!
I was very very miserable!"
"Had you no one to consult or help you, my poor child ?"
"They watched me so, and whenever I was making friends with any nice
American girl, they always rattled me off somewhere else. I never
did understand before what people meant when they talked about God
being their only Friend, but I knew it then, for I had none at all,
none else.
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