Читать книгу Charles Peace, or The Adventures of a Notorious Burglar онлайн

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“I have thought of it, master,” said Jane, with a mournful cadence in her voice, “and I’ve thought how proud and happy I ought to be, seeing how devoted, how kind you are in every way, but it is not so much on account of myself as it is for you that I have hesitated.”

“Hesitated?”

“Oh, Mr. Richard, you want a bright, cheerful companion, not a poor broken-hearted creature like myself. If I could forget the past—​if I could be the same as I was a few years ago, the matter would be different. As it is, I know not what to do. Do you persist in pressing the suit?”

“Do I persist? Of course I do,” cried the farmer. “Shall always persist while both of us are alive.”

“Oh! while we are alive?” repeated Jane Ryan.

The farmer looked surprised—​not to say a little alarmed.

“Well we are not going to die, as yet let us hope.”

“No; let us hope not.”

“And if you marry me,” he exclaimed, suddenly assuming a tone of confidence and cheerfulness. “You’re so good a girl that you’ll live for my sake.”

His companion smiled, and wound his arms round her neck.