Speaker 1: Chapter fourteen of Wired Love by Ella Chieva Thayer. This
Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Quimby accepts the situation.
Speaker 1: When Quimby rushed into the street, it was with some
Speaker 1: wild and indefident intention of flying to the ends of
Speaker 1: the earth. But recalled to his senses by the stairs
Speaker 1: of the passers by, he concluded he had better first
Speaker 1: return and get his hat. When he reached his own room,
Speaker 1: where Clem was thoughtfully pacing the floor, he flung himself
Speaker 1: face downwards upon the bed, groaning and kicking his feet spasmodically.
Speaker 1: What is the matter, Clem inquired, I've done it now,
Speaker 1: I've done it now? Was all the answer Quimby gave him.
Speaker 1: Is she rejected? Doom, asked Clem, his mind, going back
Speaker 1: to their morning's conversation. No, no, he has accepted me,
Speaker 1: wailed Quimby with a prodigious kick. What shouted Clem, stopping
Speaker 1: short in his promenade. She a holles, who she has moaned,
Speaker 1: the wretched victim of mistakes? Who I am engaged? Who
Speaker 1: heavens engaged? You mean to tell me that miss Rogers
Speaker 1: has accepted you, inquired Clem harshly. This name completely unmanned
Speaker 1: poor Quimby, and he began to cry like a schoolboy.
Speaker 1: Miss Rogers, no nover, lover. But she cir Leste the
Speaker 1: lest echoed Clem Celeste as.
Speaker 2: I, Oh, I made a mistake, you know, explained Quimby,
Speaker 2: wiping his eyes on the bedspread an irresistible smile, but
Speaker 2: quickly suppressed curved Clem's lips as he asked, but how
Speaker 2: could you possibly make such a mistake as that?
Speaker 1: Come, Cheer up, my boy, tell me and let me
Speaker 1: help you out. Quimby looked at him mournfully. It was dark,
Speaker 1: he answered, dejectedly. Sat in the chair, the lost naty.
Speaker 1: I mean it was she.
Speaker 3: If she spoke to me, why did I not seize
Speaker 3: the chance then? But no, I left her to use
Speaker 3: a little first, and when I returned, Oh it was
Speaker 3: still dark.
Speaker 1: Oh I did not know what transformation had been affected.
Speaker 1: I burst forth in eloquence. Hello, it was Celest, you know,
Speaker 1: I felt.
Speaker 3: She followed, caught me and hugged me in the hall.
Speaker 3: Her father saw won't marry her.
Speaker 1: There was no escape, you know. But my dear fellow,
Speaker 1: remonstrated Clem, you can explain the mistake. You are not
Speaker 1: obliged to marry Celeste because you accidentally proposed to her.
Speaker 1: Quimby shook his head hopelessly. She will sue me for
Speaker 1: a breach of promise, you know, and take all all
Speaker 1: of my little property. And the terrific father. I don't
Speaker 1: know what he would not do to me. Any one
Speaker 1: thing could make me pray all if miss Waders Natty,
Speaker 1: which that might have been, had not this fearful mistake occurred,
Speaker 1: I would face even old fish plate and break all ponds.
Speaker 1: Dear old fellow, I'm afraid she Natty would have rejected
Speaker 1: you in any case. She is flirt, said Clem, somewhat savagely.
Speaker 1: She leads people on for the sake of dropping them
Speaker 1: when it's suit a convenience. I know, really, I cannot
Speaker 1: think that even though she had rejected me. I could
Speaker 1: not think that, said Quimby loyally. Then, with sudden decision,
Speaker 1: I will settle it now. If I had not put
Speaker 1: it off before as I did, I might not have
Speaker 1: blundered into this awful fix. You know. I hear them
Speaker 1: in Sin's room. Now, Sin and Natty come with me.
Speaker 1: I I will have witnesses and no mistakes this time.
Speaker 1: You know, what are you going to do, asked Clem,
Speaker 1: following his excited friend, rather reluctantly. I'm going to find
Speaker 1: out if she Naty likes me. You know, if she does,
Speaker 1: I will brave Celeste, her fierce father the law. If not,
Speaker 1: why then I must be a mile to anywhere, you know,
Speaker 1: And I don't care how big a one I am,
Speaker 1: they're saying. Quimby went across to Sin's room clam not
Speaker 1: exactly liking a position thrust upon him, but unwilling to
Speaker 1: refuse accompanying him. Meanwhile, Natty had pounced upon Sin the
Speaker 1: moment she returned, exclaiming, Oh, Sin, what a dreadful thing
Speaker 1: has happened? What hell? When asked Sin, while from the
Speaker 1: effects of the melodramas she'd just been witnessing, visions of Clem,
Speaker 1: a dozen bullets in his head danced before her eyes, Quimby,
Speaker 1: poor Quimby, I've ruined him, was Natty's morseful and unintelligible answer. Well,
Speaker 1: my dear, if you could possibly be a trifle lucid,
Speaker 1: perhaps I could understand the plot of the piece, said
Speaker 1: Syn decidedly relieved of her first surmise, upon which Natty
Speaker 1: half laughing and half crying, explained, But the ludicrous side
Speaker 1: was too much for Sin, and she could only laugh.
Speaker 1: What a farce it would make, she said, as soon
Speaker 1: as she could speak Sin, Natty said, reproachfully, think how
Speaker 1: dreadful it is for Quimby and for me Yon, meaning
Speaker 1: instrument of it all nonsense, my dear, said Sinn, more seriously,
Speaker 1: and bringing her philosophy to bear on the subject. It
Speaker 1: is not your fault. She was determined to have him
Speaker 1: in any case. Had it been new as he supposed,
Speaker 1: you would of course have declined the proffered honor, and
Speaker 1: she would have caught him in the rebound. If he
Speaker 1: is spirit enough, he can get out of marrying her
Speaker 1: in some way. If not, she will make him a
Speaker 1: good wife. Enough men, you know, she says, prefer to
Speaker 1: marry women who don't know too much, So it is
Speaker 1: all right. And with this Natty was fain to be content.
Speaker 1: But she felt great pity for the poor fellow, perhaps
Speaker 1: because of the unhappiness in her own heart. It is
Speaker 1: only from the depths of our own sorrows that we
Speaker 1: learned to feel for that of others. As Quimby and climented,
Speaker 1: both Natty and Sin looked surprised and curious. But Quimby,
Speaker 1: so excited now that his usual nervous batfulness was forgotten,
Speaker 1: said immediately, Oh, beg pardon, I'm sure for calling so late,
Speaker 1: but my business will not wait, and I wanted to
Speaker 1: claim as witness he and Sin, so as to make
Speaker 1: no mistake now. Then, turning to the astonished Natty, he
Speaker 1: went on, Nati, my feelings for you have long been
Speaker 1: of adoration. No please hear me, As she made a
Speaker 1: gesture to interrupt. Tonight in miss Roma, I addressed anothers celeste.
Speaker 1: He I here. He groaned, but recovered himself and went on,
Speaker 1: in the dark, you know with words intended for you,
Speaker 1: I want to know now what I do. Not be
Speaker 1: so deceived, you would have said. But what difference can
Speaker 1: he make now, asked Natty, hesitating and wishing to spare him,
Speaker 1: as he paused for a reply. Every difference, said Quimby wildly.
Speaker 1: I beg you too to answer me truly, in order
Speaker 1: that I may know what course to take. Then, since
Speaker 1: you wish, replied Natty with a pitying glance, I will
Speaker 1: tell you that as a friend, I think very highly
Speaker 1: of you, and always shall. But that is all. Then
Speaker 1: come on, sir, lest exclaimed Quimby, in a burst of despair.
Speaker 1: She she says, she loves me, and I might get
Speaker 1: used to it in time, all bitted teeth, he added,
Speaker 1: in his strict honesty to those I never can. Syn
Speaker 1: felt a mischievous desire to hint that time might relieve
Speaker 1: him of his objection, but restrained herself and said, but
Speaker 1: you can explain the matter to her. You know just
Speaker 1: what I have been telling him, said Clym. No woman
Speaker 1: would force usself on a man under such circumstances, she would,
Speaker 1: I feel it, answered the unconvinced Quimby Miss Rodgers. Natty,
Speaker 1: H I think you O, I shall always remember who
Speaker 1: is something unattainable and dear and hohop, some deep more
Speaker 1: worthy may be to you what I would have been
Speaker 1: if I could. But ah, I was born to make mistakes,
Speaker 1: you know, and I I am used to it and
Speaker 1: ought to be thankful it was not miscling. I am
Speaker 1: very very sorry, murmured Natty, and Clem saw there were
Speaker 1: tears in her eyes. Morrel. Never make love in the dark,
Speaker 1: said Syn, looking with solemn warning at Clem. Be sure
Speaker 1: that all all the guests the room is lighted. If
Speaker 1: ever you propose, added Quimby miserably to his friend, I
Speaker 1: will remember, said Clem, glancing at Natty. There are worse
Speaker 1: mistakes made in the dark than on the wire. It
Speaker 1: seems four far worse, groaned Quimby, as Natty hastily turned
Speaker 1: her hair aside. Now, really, Quimby urged sin seriously, do
Speaker 1: be sensible. Do not be foolish enough to marry a
Speaker 1: woman you do not want, because you cannot have the
Speaker 1: one you do. But Quimby, with the fear of old
Speaker 1: fish blade and a breach of promised suit, and a
Speaker 1: dread of explanations in his mind. Moreover, having firmly decided
Speaker 1: that a little more or less of misery did not matter,
Speaker 1: could not be persuaded to take any steps himself, or
Speaker 1: allow them to be taken to free himself from the
Speaker 1: result of his latest mistake. Therefore, it came about to
Speaker 1: the surprise of those not in the secret, and the
Speaker 1: unconcealed exultation of one other parties immediately concerned that the
Speaker 1: engagement of Quimby in Celeste was announced. End of Chapter fourteen,