I should have known it was coming. I should have been ready, but instead my own face grew red. Richard Parton was grinning at me and pulling at his coat.
“Yes, a pretty face. What makes you color up over a little affair like that? Eliphalet still knows how to play the game. He knew you wouldn’t be up to snuff unless there was a woman. Oh, I saw you up on West Hill! I suppose you still think it’s romance. Can’t you see he’s limed you like a bird on a twig, and leaded your eyes like an Italian goldfinch? Do you think she ran after you because she loved you? Why can’t a man ever keep his senses when he sees a petticoat? Greer sent her there, you fool! He sent her so he could send you here tonight!”
For a second I stared at him vacantly. My mind, my body, both seemed still as death, unable t
