Please sit right
down again and write it. You know you promised on your word of honor."
She even put her hand smilingly on his shoulder, as if to push him
down, and as he yielded to the light but irresistible pressure, she
put a pen in his nerveless fingers, saying gayly:
"Just your name at the bottom, that's all. Father wrote the rest to
save you trouble. Now, please." Powerless against an imperious
magnetism which would have compelled him to sign his own death-warrant,
he scrawled the words. As she took up the precious scrap of paper, and
hid it in her bosom, the door opened, and Mrs. Edwards entered with
stately formality, and the next moment Perez found himself blunderingly
answering questions about his mother's state of health, not having the
faintest idea what he was saying. The next thing he was conscious of
was the cold frosty air on his face as he walked across the green from
the store to the guardhouse.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST
THE HUSKING
Scarcely had Perez left, when Edwards entered the parlor.
"Did you get it?" he asked of Desire.
"Yes, yes," cried the girl. "Oh, that horrible, horrible fellow! I am
sick with shame all through, sick! sick! But if I can only get away
out of his reach, I shall not mind.
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