’I should perhaps apologise also for delay in
my reply. I have had much to think of in this
matter, and have many others also on my mind.
’Believe me to be,
Yours faithfully,
Omnium.’
It was very short, and as being short was infinitely
less troublesome at the moment than a fuller epistle;
but he was very angry with himself, knowing that it
was too short, feeling that it was ungracious.
He should have expressed a hope that he might soon
see her again,—only he had no such wish.
There had been times at which he had liked her, but
he knew that he did not like her now. And yet
he was bound to be her friend! If he could only
do some great thing for her, and thus satisfy his
feeling of indebtedness towards her! But all
the favours had been from her to him and his.
Frank Tregear Wants a Friend
Six or seven weeks had passed since Tregear had made
his communication to the Duke, and during that time
he had heard not a word about the girl he loved.
He knew, indeed, that she was at the Horns, and probably
had reason to suppose that she was being guarded there,
as it were, out of his reach. This did not surprise
him; nor did he regard it as a hardship. It was
to be expected that she should be kept out of his
sight. But this was a state of things to which,
as he thought, there should not be more than a moderate
amount of submission. Six weeks was not a very
long period, but it was perhaps long enough for evincing
that respect which he owed to the young lady’s
father. Something must be done some day.
How could he expect her to be true to him unless he
took some means of showing himself to be true to her?
In these days he did not live very much with her brother.
He not only disliked, but distrusted Major Tifto,
and had so expressed himself as to give rise to angry
words. Silverbridge had said that he knew how
to take care of himself. Tregear had replied that
he had his doubts on that matter. Then the Member
of Parliament had declared that at any rate he did
not intend to be taken care of by Frank Tregear!
In such a state of things it was not possible that
there should be any close confidence as to Lady Mary.
Nor does it often come to pass that the brother is
the confidant of his sister’s lover. Brothers
hardly like their sisters to have lovers, though they
are often well satisfied that their sisters should
find husbands. Tregear’s want of rank and
wealth added something to this feeling in the mind
this brother, so that Silverbridge, though he felt
himself to be deterred by friendship from any open
opposition, still was almost inimical. ‘It
won’t do, you know,’ he had said to his
brother Gerald, shaking his head.
Tregear, however, was determined to be active in the
matter, to make some effort, to speak to somebody.
But how to make an effort,—and to whom
should he speak? Thinking of all this he remembered
that Mrs Finn had sent for him and had told him to
go with his love story to the Duke. She had been
almost severe with him;—but after the interview
was over, he had felt that she had acted well and
wisely. He therefore determined that he would
go to Mrs Finn.
