A Prisoner of Love 
     
    
   
   
    
     wear the flowers I picked for her any 
     
     more. She seemed to forget I was there. 
     
     I knew something had come between us. 
     
     And it was you, curse you! Oh, I’ll make 
     
     you sorry for it.” 
     
    

    
     He was working himself up into a fury 
     
     again—the untamed fury of the Italian 
     
     peasant thwarted in his heart’s desire. It 
     
     overrode all the restraint of his training 
     
     and environment. Eric, amid all his an— 
     
     ger and annoyance, felt a thrill of pity for 
     
     him. Neil Gordon was only a boy still; 
     
     and he was miserable and beside himself. 
     
    

    
     “ Neil, listen to me,” he said quietly. 
     
     “ You are talking very foolishly. It is 
     
     not for you to say who shall or shall not 
     
     be Kilmeny’s friend. Now, you may just 
     
     as well control yourself and go home like 
     
     a decent fellow. I am not at all frightened 
     
     by your threats, and I shall know how to 
     
     deal with you if you persist in interfering 
     
     with me or persecuting Kilmeny. I am 
     
     not the sort of person to put up with that, 
     
     my lad.” 
     
    
   
   
    
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