But I now ventured to defy his threats of exposing me; he
strenuously denied any such intention and declared himself madly in love
with me. I had now taken courage enough to reject him uncompromisingly; I
forbade him ever to speak to me again, and, as after that he disappeared
from the village, began to flatter myself that I had got rid of him.
"My father grew worse now from day to day; he lingered through the summer
and with the chill days of autumn the end came. Dick hurried home and
arrived just in time to see him alive. He left a much larger fortune than
we had supposed him to possess, and Dick, always fond of sport, was soon
in negotiation for this place which had come into the market.
"No sooner had we settled in here than, to my horror, Clement Henshaw
began to renew his persecution. He had evidently heard that I had
inherited a good share of my father's fortune, and was worth making
another effort for. He recommenced to write to me, he came down secretly
and waylaid me, and when everything else failed he resorted to threats,
not veiled as before, but open and unmistakable. He vowed that if I
persisted in refusing to marry him he would take good care that I should
never marry any one else.
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