He
leaned forward and glared at Dannie.
"Is there one minute of the day whin you ain't thinkin' about my
wife?" he demanded, oh, so slowly, and so ugly!
Dannie met his hateful gaze squarely. "Na a minute," he answered,
"excepting when I am thinking about ye."
"The Hell you say!" exploded the astonished Jimmy.
Dannie stepped out of the furrow, and came closer. "See here, Jimmy
Malone," he said. "Ye ain't forgot the nicht when I told ye I
loved Mary, with all my heart, and that I'd never love another
woman. I sent ye to tell her fra me, and to ask if I might come to
her. And ye brought me her answer. It's na your fault that she
preferred ye. Everybody did. But it ~is your fault that I've stayed
on here. I tried to go, and ye wouldna let me. So for fifteen
years, ye have lain with the woman I love, and I have lain alone in
a few rods of ye. If that ain't Man-Hell, try some other on me, and
see if it will touch me! I sent ye to tell her that I loved her;
have I ever sent ye to tell her that I've quit? I should think
you'd know, by this time, that I'm na quitter. Love her! Why, I
love her till I can see her standin' plain before me, when I know
she's a mile away. Love her! Why, I can smell her any place I am,
sweeter than any flower I ever held to my face. Love her! Till the
day I dee I'll love her. But it ain't any fault of yours, and if
ye've come to the place where I worry ye, that's the place where I
go, as I wanted to on the same day ye brought Mary to Rainbow Bottom.
Pages:
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131