that she should be his wife, he must furnish her with
a home at once. It seemed to him that three houses
might possibly be open to her of which one, the only
one which under such circumstances would be proper,
was Aylmer Park. The other two were Plaistow
Hall and Mrs Askerton’s cottage at Belton.
As to the latter should she ever take shelter there,
everything must be over between him and her. On
that point there could be no doubt. He could
not bring himself to marry a wife out of Mrs Askerton’s
drawing-room, nor could he expect his mother to receive
a young woman brought into the family under such circumstances.
And Plaistow Hall was almost as bad. It was as
bad to him, though it would, perhaps, be less objectionable
in the eyes of Lady Aylmer. Should Clara go to
Plaistow Hall there must be an end to everything.
Of that also he taught himself to be quite certain.
Then he took out Clara’s letter and read it
again. She acknowledged the story about the woman
to be true such a story as it was too and yet refused
to quarrel with the woman had absolutely promised
the woman not to quarrel with her! Then he read
and re-read the passage in which Clara claimed the
right of forming her own opinion in such matters.
Nothing could be more indelicate nothing more unfit
for his wife. He began to think that he had better
show the letter to his mother, and acknowledge that
the match must be broken off. That softening
of his heart which had followed upon the receipt of
the telegraphic message departed from him as he dwelt
upon the stubborn, stiff-necked, unfeminine obstinacy
of the letter. Then he remembered that nothing
had as yet been done towards putting his aunt’s
fifteen hundred pounds absolutely into Clara’s
hands; and he remembered also that she might at the
present moment be in great want. William Belton
might, not improbably, assist her in her want, and
this idea was wormwood to him in spite of his almost
formed resolution to give up his own claims.
He calculated that the income arising from fifteen
hundred pounds would be very small, and he wished
that he had counselled his aunt to double the legacy.
He thought very much about the amount of the money
and the way in which it might be beat expended, and
was, after his cold fashion, really solicitous as
to Clara’s welfare. If he could have fashioned
her future life, and his own too, in accordance with
his own now existing wishes, I think he would have
arranged that neither of them should marry at all,
and that to him should be assigned the duty and care
of being Clara’s protector with full permission
to tell her his mind as often as he pleased on the
subject of Mrs Askerton. Then he went in and
wrote a note to Mr Green, the lawyer, desiring that
the interest of the fifteen hundred pounds for one
year might be at once remitted to Miss Amedroz.
He knew that he ought to write to her himself immediately,
without loss of a post; but how was he to write while
things were in their present position? Were he
now to condole with her on her father’s death,
without any reference to the great Askerton iniquity,
he would thereby be condoning all that was past, and
acknowledging the truth and propriety of her arguments.
And he would be doing even worse than that. He
would be cutting the ground absolutely from beneath
his own feet as regarded that escape from his engagement
which he was contemplating.