"I can not consent!" was the gasping decision of the maiden.
"You shall! you must! you will!"
"Never! never! On my knees I say it, mother. God will witness what
you refuse to believe. I will die before I consent to marry where
I do not give my heart."
"Oh, you talk of dying, as if it was a very easy matter. But you
won't die. It's more easy to say than do. Do you come, Mr. Perkins.
Don't you mind--don't you believe in these denials, and oaths,
and promises. It's the way with all young ladies. They all make a
mighty fuss when they're going to be married; hut they're all mighty
willing, if the truth was known. I ought to know something about
it. I did just the same as she when I was going to marry Mr.
Clifford; yet nobody was more willing than I was to get a husband.
Do you come and bring the parson; she'll sing a different tune when
she stands up before him, I warrant you."
"That shall never be, Mr. Perkins!" said the maiden solemnly,
and somewhat approaching the person whom she addressed. "I have
already more than once declined the honor you propose to do me.
I now repeat to you that I will sooner marry the grave and the
winding-sheet than be your wife! My mother mistakes me and all my
feelings. For your own sake, if not for mine, I beg that YOU will
not mistake them; for, if the strength is left me for speech, I
will declare aloud to the reverend man whom you are told to bring,
the nature of those persecutions to which you have been privy. I
will tell him of the cruelty which I have been compelled to endure,
and which you have beheld and encouraged with your silence."
Perkins looked aghast, muttered his unwillingness to prosecute
his suit under such circumstances, and prepared to take his leave.
His mutterings and apologies were all swallowed up in that furious
storm of abuse and denunciation which now poured from the lips
of the exemplary mother. These we need not repeat. Suffice it
that the deep feelings of Julia--her sense of propriety and good
taste--prevailed to keep her silent, while her mother, still raving,
renewed her assurances to the pettifogger that he should certainly
receive his wife at her hands on the evening of the ensuing Thursday.
The unmanly suitor accepted her assurances--and took leave of mother
and daughter, with the expression of a simpering hope, intended
chiefly for the latter, that her objections would resolve themselves
into the usual maidenly scruples when the appointed time should
arrive. Julia mustered strength enough to reply in language which
brought down another storm from her mother upon her devoted head.