It wasn't exactly cross-examination, because he wasn't
cross, yet he fired the questions at me like a cannon, and I answered
quick, you bet. Dr. Denbigh knows what he wants, and he means to get
it. Just by accident toward the last I let out about that day in the
winter when they were chaffing Aunt Elizabeth at the table about him,
and how he'd taken her out in the machine, and how mother had said
there might be an engagement to write Peggy about.
"Oh!" said Dr. Denbigh. "Oh!--oh!"
Funny, the way he went on saying, "Oh! Oh!"
I thought if that interested him he might like to hear about Peg
throwing a fit in her room after, so I told him that, and how I tried
to comfort her, and how unreasonable she was. And what do you suppose
he said? He looked at me a minute with his eyebrows away down, and his
mouth jammed together, and then he brought out:
"You little devil!"
That's not the worst he said, either. I guess mother wouldn't let me go
out with him if she knew he used profanity--Maria wouldn't, anyway. I
have decided I won't tell them. It's the only time I ever caught him.
The other thing is this. He said to himself--but out loud--I think he
had forgotten me: "So they made her believe I liked her aunt better."
And then, in a minute: "She said it would break her heart--bless her!"
And two or three other interlocutory remarks like that, meaning nothing
in particular.
Pages:
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253