’Mr Glascock, mamma, was very nice and good
and all that; but indeed he is not the man to suffer
from a broken heart. And Emily is quite mistaken.
I told him the whole truth.’
‘What truth?’
’That there was somebody else that I did love.
Then he said that of course that put an end to it
all, and he wished me good-bye ever so calmly.’
’How could you be so infatuated? Why should
you have cut the ground away from your feet in that
way?’
’Because I chose that there should be an end
to it. Now there has been an end to it; and it
is much better, mamma, that we should not think about
Mr Glascock any more. He will never come again
to me and if he did, I could only say the same thing.’
’You mustn’t be surprised, Nora, if I’m
unhappy; that is all. Of course I must feel it.
Such a connection as it would have been for your sisters!
Such a home for poor Emily in her trouble! And
as for this other man—’
‘Mamma, don’t speak ill of him.’
‘If I say anything of him, I must say the truth,’
said Lady Rowley.
’Don’t say anything against him, mamma,
because he is to be my husband. Dear, dear mamma,
you can’t change me by anything you say.
Perhaps I have been foolish; but it is settled now.
Don’t make me wretched by speaking against the
man whom I mean to love all my life better than all
the world.’
‘Think of Louis Trevelyan.’
’I will think of no one but Hugh Stanbury.
I tried not to love him, mamma. I tried to think
that it was better to make believe that I loved Mr
Glascock. But he got the better of me, and conquered
me, and I will never rebel against him. You may
help me, mamma but you can’t change me.’
SIR MARMADUKE AT HIS CLUB
Sir Marmaduke had come away from his brother-in-law
the parson in much anger, for Mr Outhouse, with that
mixture of obstinacy and honesty which formed his
character, had spoken hard words of Colonel Osborne,
and words which by implication had been hard also against
Emily Trevelyan. He had been very staunch to
his niece when attacked by his niece’s husband;
but when his sympathies and assistance were invoked
by Sir Marmaduke it seemed as though he had transferred
his allegiance to the other side. He pointed
out to the unhappy father that Colonel Osborne had
behaved with great cruelty in going to Devonshire,
that the Stanburys had been untrue to their trust
in allowing him to enter the house, and that Emily
had been ‘indiscreet’ in receiving him.
When a young woman is called indiscreet by her friends
it may be assumed that her character is very seriously
assailed. Sir Marmaduke had understood this,
and on hearing the word had become wroth with his brother-in-law.
There had been hot words between them, and Mr Outhouse
would not yield an inch or retract a syllable.
He conceived it to be his duty to advise the father
