" She heaved a little sigh, and then added, with a faint laugh,
"That's the worst thing about the clothes of a girl in the profession,
they get spoiled or stained before they wear out."
This large truth did not seem to impress Mr. Hamlin. "Why did you leave
Santa Clara?" he said abruptly, in his previous critical tone.
"Because of the folks there. They were standoffish and ugly. You see,
Josh"--
"Who?"
"Josh Rylands!--HIM! He told everybody who I was, even those who had
never seen me in the bills,--how good I was to marry him, how he had
faith in me and wasn't ashamed,--until they didn't believe we were
married at all. So they looked another way when they met us, and didn't
call. And all the while I was glad they didn't, but he wouldn't believe
it, and allowed I was pining on account of it."
"And were you?"
"I swear to God, Jack, I'd have been content, and more, to have been
just there with him, seein' nobody, letting every one believe I was dead
and gone, but he said it was wrong, and weak! Maybe it was," she added,
with a shy, interrogating look at Jack, of which, however, he took no
notice.
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