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Magnay, William

"The Hunt Ball Mystery"

I might have known him better. To my intense annoyance and
dismay I saw him come into the ballroom with all the hateful assurance
that was so familiar to me. I could not well escape, seeing that I was
acting as hostess. For a while he, beyond a formal greeting, let me
alone. But I felt what was surely coming, and it was almost a relief when
he took an opportunity of asking for a dance.
"He must have seen the hate in my eyes as in my hesitation they met his,
for he said with a forced laugh, 'You need not do violence to your
feelings by dancing with me, Miss Morriston, if you don't care to, but
there is something I must say to you. Let us come out of the crowd to
where we shall not be overheard.'
"I had never felt so madly furious with the man as at that moment; and it
was with a reckless desire to tell him in strong language my opinion of
his tactics, to insult him, if that were possible, to declare that I
would die rather than yield to him, that I led the way to the tower. My
desire to get out of the crowd was even greater than his, for a mad hope
possessed me that in some desperate way I might bring our relations to a
final issue.


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