Jess of the Rebel Trail | Page 6

Donaster. Don't you think that we are more
capable of judging for your good than you?"
"I have very serious doubts about that. I know you will consider me
ungrateful for saying so, but you ask me, and so I am forced to tell the
truth."
"Well, I declare!" and Mrs. Randall looked her astonishment. "What
has come over you, Jess? I never knew you to talk like this before. You
seem to have lost all confidence in your parents' judgment."
"Not all, mother. But I know how you interfered with the boys' welfare,
and look how they have turned out. There was a time when they wished
to go to work and win their own way in the world. But you would not
let them, and spoiled their lives by giving them too much money to
spend, and telling them that it was not dignified to work. And look
what they are now; helpless to do anything for themselves, and a
burden to you. Daddy agreed with everything you said, and see what
has happened. You made a sad mistake with them, and I am determined
that it shall not be so with me."
The girl was trembling violently as she finished, and she had risen to
her feet. The colour had fled from her face, and her hands were firmly
clasped before her. Her mother also rose, and confronted her daughter.
"You are a rebellious and an ungrateful girl," she charged. "To think of
your saying such things after all we have done for you. What do you
mean?"
"Just what I have said, as you will find out. It is about time for me to
assert myself when you are determined to shackle me to a creature I
detest."
"Mr. Donaster is a gentleman, and the son of a gentleman, so you must
not refer to him in such an offensive manner. I absolutely forbid it."
"He may be a gentleman according to the standard of some, but not

according to mine. He is nothing but an unbearable cad, and with no
more character than a jelly-fish. And to think of my having to put up
with a thing like that for the rest of my life. Why, I would rather be
dead."
"It would be almost a relief to me if you were," and Mrs. Randall gave
a deep sigh of despair. "A daughter as wilful as you will only bring
disgrace upon her parents."
"I am surprised at your saying such a thing," the girl replied. "One
would almost imagine you are not my mother at all, you are so
heartless. Would a real mother be willing to sacrifice her only
daughter?"
Mrs. Randall gave a sudden start, and looked keenly into the eyes of
the girl standing so defiantly before her. "Does she suspect anything?"
she asked herself. Then she gave a nervous laugh, and resumed her
seat.
"Leave me alone now," she ordered. "I see it is no use talking to you
any more to-night, you are so unreasonable and headstrong. Your father
will have to take you in hand. He will soon knock this nonsense out of
your head. He is determined that you shall marry Mr. Donaster, and
you might as well make up your mind to that first as last."
"Mother, I shall go now. But let me tell you, as I shall tell daddy, that
nothing on earth can make me marry the man I do not love."
"Tut, tut. Love has nothing to do with marriages these days," Mrs.
Randall impatiently replied. "There is no such a thing as love in
marriage, it is merely a matter of convenience."
"If I believed that, I should never marry, mother."
"And don't you?"
"Indeed I do not."

"What do you know about love?"
"I know, perhaps, more than you think." The girl's face was now deeply
flushed, and this her mother noted.
"Jess, what is the meaning of this? Is there someone else in whom you
are interested besides Mr. Donaster? Tell me. I must know the truth at
once. It is no use trying to conceal it from me."
The girl's eyes dropped, and she turned her face partly away to hide her
emotion.
"In Mr. Donaster I am not even interested," she confessed. "But in
another, I am more than interested, for I love him with my whole heart.
There, you now know the truth, and so you can say and do what you
like. Goodnight."
Without another word, the girl turned and hurried out of the room,
leaving her mother speechless with anger and amazement.

CHAPTER III
THE "EB AN' FLO"
Just how it happened Samuel Tobin, owner and captain of the "Eb and
Flo," was never able to explain with any degree of clearness. He knew
that