Alta Lynn, M.D. by Nellie Bly

Author:Nellie Bly
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sordelet Ink
Published: 2021-11-26T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XXIV - A Confession And A Consent.

That Mr. Aymar should propose marriage to her was the greatest surprise in the world to Alta Lynn. Always so ready with an answer, she was for once unable to find anything to say.

“Will you marry me, Alta?” Mr. Aymar repeated gently.

“Mr. Aymar, I have never thought of you in that way,” she replied frankly.

“Then try to think of it now,” he said kindly. “Let us be honest with each other. I am old enough to be your father, and I have a secret in my life I could not bare to any one without great pain. It is not a dishonorable secret, I know you will believe.”

“I trust you implicitly,” Alta said simply.

He pressed her hand in acknowledgment of her confidence and continued. “I have from the first entertained the warmest affection for you. I did not think I could ever again care as much for any one as I have learned to care for you.

“I will not deceive you in the least,” he added, in a low tone. “I love you as a father would love a daughter. There is none of the mad love of a boy in it. But if you will consent to be my wife, I shall devote my life to your happiness.”

“I appreciate your affection for me and your kindness, but I could not do you the wrong of becoming your wife,” Alta said humbly.

“You cannot care enough for me?” he asked sorrowfully.

“Please do not think that,” she said quickly. “I love you very, very much.”

“Then why will you not let me have the right to care for you?” he asked.

“Because I love you as you care for me; not the way people care for each other when they marry,” was her frank reply.

“Well, my child, I cannot take you as my daughter. The world would talk. There is only one way I can care for you and protect you from the worries of the world, and that is by making you my wife.”

Alta was stirred by a variety of emotions and impulses.

This offer of marriage seemed to hold out to her the hope of a way to get rid of the persecutions of Frank Hill.

As for her marriage to Max Wheatcroft, she had never believed it was legal. Even before Frank Hill confronted her with the opinion of a lawyer, she had been convinced in her own mind that it would not hold. So that could not bother her at all, if she decided to marry Mr. Aymar, and by marrying him she freed herself forever from Frank Hill.

He had proven to her that she was not a wife, and if she should marry another, he would not have any reason for trying to wreak his vengeance on the man who had first come between them.

“There are things in my life,” said Alta, after a slight hesitation, “that you should know before I consent to become your wife.”

“Why trouble yourself about the past?” asked Mr. Aymar tenderly.

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