I'd just like to go
with you, though, for when I'm with you I feel so--so safe."
"Safe?" said I. "Why aren't you safe here? Is any one threatening you?
Has Buckner Gowdy been around here? Just tell me if he bothers you, and
I'll--I'll--"
"Well," said she, "he came here and claimed me from Mr. Thorndyke. He
said I was an infant--what do you think of that?--an infant--in law; and
that he is my guardian. And a lawyer named Creede, came and talked about
his right, not he said by consanguinity, but affinity, whatever
that is--"
"I know Mr. Creede," said I. "He rode with me for two or three days. I
don't believe he'll wrong any one."
"Mrs. Thorndyke told them to try their affinity plan if they dared, and
she'd show them that they couldn't drag a poor orphan away from her
friends against her will. And I hung to her, and I cried, and said I'd
kill myself before I'd go with him; and that man"--meaning Gowdy--"tried
to talk sweet and affectionate and brotherly to me, and I hid my face in
Mrs. Thorndyke's bosom--and Mr. Creede looked as if he were sick of his
case, and told that man that he would like further consultation with him
before proceeding further--and they went away. But every time I see that
man he acts as if he wanted to talk with me, and smiles at me--but I
won't look at him. Oh, why can't they all be good like you, Teunis?"
Then she told me that I looked a lot better when I shaved--at which I
blushed like everything, and this seemed to tickle her very much.
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