I am old enough to speak
out; and I can tell you, if she had only been wise enough to let her own
wishes guide her, she would have said Yes--and gladly, too.
"The original cause of all the mischief is no less a person than your
worthy uncle--Admiral Bartram.
"It seems that the admiral took it into his head (I suppose during your
absence) to go to London by himself and to satisfy some curiosity of his
own about Norah by calling in Portland Place, under pretense of renewing
his old friendship with the Tyrrels. He came at luncheon-time, and saw
Norah; and, from all I can hear, was apparently better pleased with her
than he expected or wished to be when he came into the house.
"So far, this is mere guess-work; but it is unluckily certain that he
and Mrs. Tyrrel had some talk together alone when luncheon was over.
Your name was not mentioned; but when their conversation fell on Norah,
you were in both their minds, of course. The admiral (doing her full
justice personally) declared himself smitten with pity for her hard
lot in life. The scandalous conduct of her sister must always stand (he
feared) in the way of her future advantage. Who could marry her, without
first making it a condition that she and her sister were to be absolute
strangers to each other? And even then, the objection would remain--the
serious objection to the husband's family--of being connected by
marriage with such a woman as Mrs.
Pages:
1101
1102
1103
1104
1105
1106
1107
1108
1109
1110
1111
1112
1113
1114
1115
1116
1117
1118
1119
1120
1121
1122
1123
1124
1125