“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.
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.
