I do not say he acted well. The question is, how
much will compensate you for your natural disappointment?"
Her ladyship prided herself upon her bluntness and practicability.
As she spoke she took her cheque-book out of her reticule, and,
opening it, dipped her pen into the ink. I am inclined to think
that the flutter of that cheque-book was her ladyship's mistake.
The girl had common sense, and must have seen the difficulties in
the way of a marriage between the heir to an earldom and a linen-
draper's daughter; and had the old lady been a person of
discernment, the interview might have ended more to her
satisfaction. She made the error of judging the world by one
standard, forgetting there are individualities. Mary Sewell came
from a West of England stock that, in the days of Drake and
Frobisher, had given more than one able-bodied pirate to the
service of the country, and that insult of the cheque-book put the
fight into her. Her lips closed with a little snap, and the fear
fell from her.
"I am sorry I don't see my way to obliging your ladyship," she
said.
"What do you mean, girl?" asked the elder woman.
Pages:
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45