To-day she was red and blooming, and he ventured to compliment her on the favorable change.
“I am glad to see your color coming back again, Jennie,” he said. “You begin to look like your old self again. I could not bear to see you so cast down as you have been for some days past.”
“I do not think it could have troubled your mind very deeply,” she replied, in a bitter tone.
“Why do you say that, Jennie?” was his surprised rejoinder. “You know that no father could feel more tenderly toward you than I do.”
“I know that no stranger could have done me a deeper wrong than you have done,” she replied, looking him straight in the eyes.
“Such language seems to me utterly uncalled for,” he answered, with a deeply-pained look.
“Why have you thrown John Elkton into prison?” was her unflinching reply.
“It could not be avoided, Jennie. You should know that. He is found with a piece of stolen goods in his possession. He refuses to tell where he obtained it. I am very sorry to have wounded you, but could not act otherwise. If he is innocent, why is he silent?”
“You know he is innocent,” she hotly replied. “There is nothing you know better. You have known him as long as I have, and as well. You know he is innocent.”
“He is a man, with human weaknesses. What do we know of his life, outside of his visits here? We do not know how or where he spends his time, nor who are his associates. He does not see you very frequently.”
“You will hint next that he is deceiving me,” was her hot answer. “He visits me as often as he can, and I have perfect faith in his love and his honesty.”
“I cannot help doubting him, Jennie,” he replied.
“Doubt him!” she cried. “And is a mere doubt warrant enough for you to take such action, to injure and disgrace him, to wound me so deeply? You doubt him! If you had seen your goods in his possession it would not have given you the right to doubt him without further proof.”
“They were found in his possession,” he replied, hotly as herself. “He was found making presents of them. And as for further proof we have it in his silence. If he is innocent why does he refuse to clear himself?”
“I don’t know. He has good reasons for it. If guilty why did he give me that silk, and so bring it directly before your eyes?”