“Too free, sometimes,” said Madame Goesler.

“And what will you gain by changing all this simply for a title?”

“But for such a title, Lady Glencora!  It may be little to you to be Duchess of Omnium, but think what it must be to me!”

“And for this you will not hesitate to rob him of all his friends, to embitter his future life, to degrade him among his peers,—­”

“Degrade him!  Who dares say that I shall degrade him?  He will exalt me, but I shall no whit degrade him.  You forget yourself, Lady Glencora.”

“Ask any one.  It is not that I despise you.  If I did, would I offer you my hand in friendship?  But an old man, over seventy, carrying the weight and burden of such rank as his, will degrade himself in the eyes of his fellows, if he marries a young woman without rank, let her be ever so clever, ever so beautiful.  A Duke of Omnium may not do as he pleases, as may another man.”

“It may be well, Lady Glencora, for other dukes, and for the daughters and heirs and cousins of other dukes, that his Grace should try that question.  I will, if you wish it, argue this matter with you on many points, but I will not allow you to say that I should degrade any man whom I might marry.  My name is as unstained as your own.”

“I meant nothing of that,” said Lady Glencora.

“For him;—­I certainly would not willingly injure him.  Who wishes to injure a friend?  And, in truth, I have so little to gain, that the temptation to do him an injury, if I thought it one, is not strong.  For your little boy, Lady Glencora, I think your fears are premature.”  As she said this, there came a smile over her face, which threatened to break from control and almost become laughter.  “But, if you will allow me to say so, my mind will not be turned against this marriage half so strongly by any arguments you can use as by those which I can adduce myself.  You have nearly driven me into it by telling me I should degrade his house.  It is almost incumbent on me to prove that you are wrong.  But you had better leave me to settle the matter in my own bosom.  You had indeed.”

After a while Lady Glencora did leave her,—­to settle the matter within her own bosom,—­having no other alternative.

CHAPTER LXII

The Letter That Was Sent to Brighton

Monday morning came and Madame Goesler had as yet written no answer to the Duke of Omnium.  Had not Lady Glencora gone to Park Lane on the Sunday afternoon, I think the letter would have been written on that day; but, whatever may have been the effect of Lady Glencora’s visit, it so far disturbed Madame Goesler as to keep her from her writing-table.  There was yet another night for thought, and then the letter should be written on the Monday morning.