...Nell!"
"My--heart--is broken," sobbed Nell, "for--I--I--can't marry you."
The boyish brightness faded out of Gale's face. Here, Belding
saw, was the stern reality arrayed against his dreams.
"That devil Radford Chase--he'll tell my secret," panted Nell.
"He swore if you ever came back and married me he'd follow us all
over the world to tell it."
Belding saw Gale grow deathly white and suddenly stand stock-still.
"Chase threatened you, then?" asked Dick; and the forced naturalness
of his voice struck Belding.
"Threatened me? He made my life a nightmare," replied Nell, in a
rush of speech. "At first I wondered how he was worrying mother
sick. But she wouldn't tell me. Then when she went away he began
to hint things. I hated him all the more. But when he told me--I
was frightened, shamed. Still I did not weaken. He was pretty
decent when he was sober. But when he was half drunk he was the
devil. He laughed at me and my pride. I didn't dare shut the
door in his face. After a while he found out that your mother
loved me and that I loved her. Then he began to threaten me.
If I didn't give in to him he'd see she learned the truth. That
made me weaken. It nearly killed me. I simply could not bear
the thought of Mrs. Gale kowing. But I couldn't marry him. Besides,
he got so half the time, when he was drunk, he didn't want or ask
me to be his wife. I was about ready to give up and go mad when
you--you came home.
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