'But don't you think, Radie, I should do well to marry, that is, assuming everything to be suitable?'
'Well, perhaps, for _yourself_, Stanley; but----'
'Yes, of course,' said Lake; 'but the unfortunate girl, you were going to say--thank you. She's, of course, very much to be pitied, and you have my leave to pity her as much as you please.'
'Thank you, again,' said Stanley; 'but seriously, Radie, you can be, I think, very essentially of use to me in this affair, and you must not refuse.'
'Now, Stanley, I will cut this matter short. I can't serve you. I won't. I don't know the young lady, and I don't mean to make her acquaintance.'
'But I tell you that you _can_ serve me,' retorted Stanley, with a savage glare, and features whitened with passion, 'and you _shall_ serve me; and you _do_ know the young lady intimately.'
'I say, Sir, I do _not_,' replied Rachel, haughtily and fiercely.
'She is Dorcas Brandon; you know _her_, I believe. I came down here to marry her. I had made up my mind when I saw you first and I'll carry my point; I always do. She does not like me, maybe; but she _shall_. I never yet resolved to make a woman like me, and failed. You need not look so pale; and put on that damned affected look of horror. I may be wild, and--and what you please, but I'm no worse than that brute, Mark Wylder, and you never turned up your eyes when he was her choice; and I knew things about him that ought to have damned him, and she's well rid of a branded rascal. And now, Rachel, you know her, and you must say a good word for me. I expect your influence, and if you don't use it, and effectually, it will be worse for you. You women understand one another, and how to get a fellow favourably into one another's thoughts. So, listen to me, this is a vital matter; indeed, it is, Radie. I have lost a lot of money, like a--fool, I suppose; well, it is gone, and this marriage is indispensable. I must go in for it, it is life or death; and if I fail through your unkindness (here he swore an impious oath) I'll end all with a pistol, and leave a letter to Chelford, disclosing everything concerning you, and me, and Mark Wylder.'
I think Rachel Lake was as near fainting as ever lady was, without actually swooning. It was well they had stopped just by the stem of a great ash tree, against which Rachel leaned for some seconds, with darkness before her eyes, and the roar of a whirlpool in her ears.