My wife's sister
is not essential to my happiness, but my wife is. In my opinion, sir,
Mrs. Noel Vanstone has done mischief enough already. I don't see the
necessity of letting her do more mischief, by depriving me of a good
wife. Right or wrong, that is my point of view. I don't wish to trouble
you with any questions of sentiment. All I wish to say is that I am old
enough by this time to know my own mind, and that my mind is made up.
If my marriage is essential to the execution of your intentions on my
behalf, there is only one woman in the world whom I _can_ marry, and
that woman is Miss Vanstone."
There was no resisting this plain declaration. Admiral Bartram rose from
his chair without making any reply, and walked perturbedly up and down
the room.
The situation was emphatically a serious one. Mrs. Girdlestone's death
had already produced the failure of one of the two objects contemplated
by the Secret Trust. If the third of May arrived and found George a
single man, the second (and last) of the objects would then have failed
in its turn. In little more than a fortnight, at the very latest, the
Banns must be published in Ossory church, or the time would fail for
compliance with one of the stipulations insisted on in the Trust.
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