All his
vows of love and fidelity made to me before the Almighty forgotten in a
few months, and a dance and a Light Woman so alluring he had to lie and
sneak for them. What kind of a prospect is that for a life? I know men
and women. An honourable man is an honourable man, and a liar is a liar;
both are born and not made. One cannot change to the other any more than
that same old leopard can change its spots. After a man tells a woman
the first untruth of that sort, the others come piling thick, fast,
and mountain high. The desolation they bring in their wake overshadows
anything I have suffered completely. If he had lived six months more I
should have known him for what he was born to be. It was in the blood
of him. His father and grandfather before him were fiddling, dancing
people; but I was certain of him. I thought we could leave Ohio and come
out here alone, and I could so love him and interest him in his work,
that he would be a man. Of all the fool, fruitless jobs, making anything
of a creature that begins by deceiving her, is the foolest a sane woman
ever undertook. I am more than sorry you and Margaret didn't see your
way clear to tell me long ago. I'd have found it out in a few more
months if he had lived, and I wouldn't have borne it a day. The man who
breaks his vows to me once, doesn't get the second chance. I give truth
and honour. I have a right to ask it in return. I am glad I understand
at last.
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