sneered Scantlebray, as he sidled to the door and bolted, but not till, with a face full of malignity, he had shaken his fist at Coppinger, behind his back.
"What brings this man here?" asked the Captain.
"Impertinence—nothing else," answered Judith.
"What was that he said about Oliver Menaida?"
"His insolence will not bear reporting."
"You are right. He is a cur, and deserves to be kicked, not spoken to or spoken of. I heed him not. There is in him a grudge against me. He thought at one time that I would have taken his daughter—do you recall speaking to me once about the girl that you supposed was a fit mate for me? I laughed—I thought you had heard the chatter about Polly Scantlebray and me. A bold, fine girl, full of blood as a cherry is full of juice—one of the stock—but with better looks than the men, yet with the assurance, the effrontery of her father. A girl to laugh and talk with, not to take to one's heart. I care for Polly Scantlebray! Not I! That man has never forgiven me the disappointment because I did not take her. I never intended to. I despised her. Now you know all. Now you see why he hates me. I do not care. I am his match. But I will not have him insolent to you. What did he say?"
It was a relief to Judith that Captain Coppinger had not heard the words that Mr. Scantlebray had used. They would have inflamed his jealousy, and fired him into fury against the speaker.
"He told me that he had been passed, on his way hither, by Mr. Oliver Menaida, coming to the cliffs to inhale the sea air and look at the angry ocean."
Captain Coppinger was satisfied, or pretended to be so. He went to tho door and shut it, but not till he had gone outside and looked round to see, so Judith thought, whether Oliver Menaida were coming that way, quite as much as to satisfy himself that Mr. Scantlebray was not lurking round a corner listening.
No! Oliver Menaida would not come there. Of that Judith was quite sure. He had the delicacy of mind and the good sense not to risk her reputation by approaching Othello Cottage. When he had made that offer to her she had known that his own heart spoke, but he had veiled its speech and had made the offer as from his father, and in such a way as not to offend her. Only
