He stepped forward. "Ladies," said he, "the difficulty which
vexes you cannot, I feel sure, be altogether good for your small sons
and daughters. Let me put an end to it." He bent forward and
reverently took July's hand. "My dear, it appears that the depth of my
respect for you will not be credited by these ladies unless I offer you
marriage. And as I am proud of it, so forgive me if I put it beyond
their doubt. Will you marry me?" July, blushing scarlet, covered her
face with her hands, but shook her head. There was no mistaking the
gesture: all the women saw it. "Condole with me, ladies!" said
Laquedem, lifting his hat and including them in an ironical bow; and
placing July's arm in his, escorted her away.
I need not follow the history of their intimacy, of which I saw, indeed,
no more than my neighbours. On two points all accounts of it agree: the
rapid ageing of the man during this period and the improvement in the
poor girl's intellect. Some profess to have remarked an equally
vehement heightening of her beauty; but, as my recollection serves me,
she had always been a handsome maid; and I set down the
transfiguration--if such it was--entirely to the dawn and growth of her
reason. To this I can add a curious scrap of evidence. I was walking
along the cliff track, one afternoon, between Porthlooe and Lanihale
church-town, when, a few yards ahead, I heard a man's voice declaiming
in monotone some sentences which I could not catch; and rounding the
corner, came upon Laquedem and July.
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