"
"Lady Verner, you should not say it!" burst forth Lucy, with vehemence,
as she turned her white face, her trembling lips, to Lady Verner.
"Surely I might refuse to marry Lord Garle without caring unduly for
another!"
Lady Verner looked quite aghast at the outburst. "My dear, does not this
prove that I am right?"
"But who is it?" interrupted Sir Henry Tempest.
"Alas!--Who! I could almost faint in telling it to you," groaned Lady
Verner. "My unfortunate son, Jan."
The relief was so great to Lucy; the revulsion of feeling so sudden; the
idea called up altogether so comical, that she clasped her hands one
within the other, and laughed out in glee.
"Oh, Lady Verner! Poor Jan! I never thought you meant him. Papa," she
said, turning eagerly to Sir Henry, "Jan is downright worthy and good,
but I should not like to marry him."
"Jan may be worthy; but he is not handsome," gravely remarked Sir Henry.
"He is better than handsome," returned Lucy. "I shall love Jan all my
life, papa; but not in that way."
Her perfect openness, her ease of manner, gave an earnest of the truth
with which she spoke; and Lady Verner was summarily relieved of the fear
which had haunted her rest.
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