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Show Page 182 It was after I had fallen into a fitful sleep that sobbing awoke me. Jane, who slept beside me still, lay crying Into her pillow. "Are you ailing?" I whispered, my hand upon her shoulder. Immediately the sobs halted. "Aye," said Jane, rolling over to face me. "My heart is sore ill. But what care you? You who made it so." "I know not what you mean," I answered. "Then you are a dolt," Jane snapped. "For I thought I made it plain enough to all that J desired to wed with Richard Kean." "Richard?" I sputtered in disbelief. "Indeed you did not make it so, for it was plain only that you had set your eyes upon John Clark. It is him you walk with and flirt with. Aye, and perhaps even bed with!" Jane raised her hand to strike me, and, in truth, I deserved the blow for speaking words so cruel. But I felt it coming in the dark and fended it off. "I know not why, but you sound envious of me," hissed Jane. "Since it was you, not John, who put an end to his wooing, I can think of no reason for you to harbor such envy- unless you now fancy yourself in love with him." I did not let her know how close she came to the truth. "How know you I, not John, ended his courtship?" I snarled back, |
