I can afford to be so, can I not?"
"Decima ought to have told me," was all the reply given by Lady Verner.
"And Decima would have told you, at all hazards, but for my urgent
entreaties. The blame is wholly mine, Lady Verner. You must forgive me."
"In what lay the objection of Sir Rufus?" she asked.
"I honestly believe that it arose entirely from that dogged
self-will--may I be forgiven for speaking thus irreverently of my dead
father!--which was his great characteristic through life. It was I who
chose Decima, not he; and therefore my father opposed it. To Decima and
to Decima's family he could not have any possible objection--in fact, he
had not. But he liked to oppose his will to mine. I--if I know anything
of myself--am the very reverse of self-willed, and I had always yielded
to him. No question, until this, had ever arisen that was of vital
importance to my life and its happiness."
"Sir Rufus may have resented her want of fortune," remarked Lady Verner.
"I think not. He was not a covetous or a selfish man; and our revenues
are such that I can make ample settlements on my wife.
Pages:
1116
1117
1118
1119
1120
1121
1122
1123
1124
1125
1126
1127
1128
1129
1130
1131
1132
1133
1134
1135
1136
1137
1138
1139
1140