beneath them; and then added, “No one to know
it.” After that he held the scrap for two
or three minutes in his hands, and then wrote beneath
the figures, “Very well. To be settled on
your daughter. No one shall know it.”
She bowed her head, but kept the scrap of paper in
her possession. “Shall I ring for your carriage?”
he asked. The bell was rung, and Lady Augustus
was taken back to the lodgings in Orchard Street in
the hired brougham. As she went she told herself
that if everything else failed, 400 pounds a year
would support her daughter, or that in the event of
any further matrimonial attempt such a fortune would
be a great assistance. She had been sure that
there could be no marriage, and was disposed to think
that she had done a good morning’s work on behalf
of her unnatural child.
CHAPTER VIII
“We shall kill each other”
Lady Augustus as she was driven back to Orchard Street
and as she remained alone during the rest of that
day and the next in London, became a little afraid
of what she had done. She began to think how
she should communicate her tidings to her daughter,
and thinking of it grew to be nervous and ill at ease.
How would it be with her should Arabella still cling
to the hope of marrying the lord? That any such
hope would be altogether illusory Lady Augustus was
now sure. She had been quite certain that there
was no ground for such hope when she had spoken to
the man of her own poverty. She was almost certain
that there had never been an offer of marriage made.
In the first place Lord Rufford’s word went further
with her than Arabella’s,—and then
his story had been consistent and probable, whereas
hers had been inconsistent and improbable. At
any rate ropes and horses would not bring Lord Rufford
to the hymeneal altar. That being so was it not
natural that she should then have considered what
result would be next best to a marriage? She was
very poor, having saved only some few hundreds a year
from the wreck of her own fortune. Independently
of her daughter had nothing. And in spite of
this poverty Arabella was very extravagant, running
up bills for finery without remorse wherever credit
could be found, and excusing herself by saying that
on this or that occasion such expenditure was justified
by the matrimonial prospects which it opened out to
her. And now, of late, Arabella had been talking
of living separately from her mother. Lady Augustus,
who was thoroughly tired of her daughter’s company,
was not at all averse to such a scheme; but any such
scheme was impracticable without money. By a
happy accident the money would now be forthcoming.
There would be 400 pounds a year for ever and nobody
would know whence it came. She was confident that
they might trust to the lord’s honour for secrecy.
As far as her own opinion went the result of the transaction
would be most happy. But still she feared Arabella.
She felt that she would not know how to tell her story
Copyrights
The American Senator from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
