My meetin' you so lonely and unhappy, my seein' you so sweet and beautiful, my thinkin' you so good in spite of--" "Shore it was strange," interrupted Ellen, with scornful laugh.

She had found her defense.

In hurting him she could hide her own hurt.
"Thinking me so good in spite of-- Ha-ha! And I said I'd been kissed before!" "Yes, in spite of everything," he said.
Ellen could not look at him as he loomed over her.

She felt a wild tumult in her heart.

All that crowded to her lips for utterance was false.
"Yes--kissed before I met you--and since," she said, mockingly.