She dropped me a curtsey and would have passed on, but I stopped her. We
were all alone in the wide avenue, as much alone to all intents and
purposes as we could have been anywhere. I went straight to the point,
feeling the painfulness of having to speak and doing it as directly as
possible.
"Nora," I said, "I am only a girl like yourself, so don't be frightened
of me. I always thought you a good girl, Nora, but I saw you walking
yesterday in the wood with Mr. Dawson of Damerstown, and you were like
lovers, and that ought not to be so unless you are going to marry him."
"Oh, Miss Bawn!"
Poor Nora's face was covered with confusion, and I am sure I blushed as
hotly as she did, yet I was conscious of a cold, shrinking feeling from
this courtship between her and Richard Dawson which I was sure could
lead to no good.
"It isn't right, Nora," I said.
"God help me! I know that, Miss Bawn," she said, looking at me with
frightened eyes. "I've tried to give it up; I've tried to resist him,
but I can't. There's something stronger than myself that drives me to
him. I love him, Miss Bawn, so I do; and I can't help it that he's a
rich gentleman and I'm only a poor girl.
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