Not all the Aylwins that have ever
eaten of wheat and fattened the worms shall prevent that. She shall
be mine. I say, she shall be mine!'
'The daughter of the man who desecrated my husband's tomb!'
'And my father's! That man's daughter shall be my wife,' I said,
sitting up in bed and looking into those eyes, bright and proud,
which had been wont to make all other eyes blink and quail.
'Cursed by your father, and cursed by God--'
'That curse--for what it may be worth--I take upon my own head; the
curse shall be mine. Even if I believed the threat about the
"desolate places," I would be there; if bare-footed she had to beg
from door to door, rest assured, mother, that an Aylwin would hold
the wallet--would leave the whole Aylwin brood, their rank, their
money, and their stupid, vulgar British pride, to walk beside the
beggar.'
The look on my mother's face would have terrified most people. It
would have terrified me once, but in the frenzy into which I had then
passed, nothing would have made me quail.
'Your services, mother, are no longer needed,' I said.
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