United States or Finland ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
It seemed a pity, my lady, did it not? For his lordship was greatly pleased with the heir, and, of course, my lady would have been much happier after that." Bettina did not answer. The evident reasonableness of the father's position, in the eyes of this good and gentle woman, made it impossible for her to speak without dissent to such an atrocity as Lord Hurdly's attitude seemed to her.
It was that air of the best in everything that made her feel, in Lord Hurdly's presence, as well as in his house, that civilization could not go further that life, on its material side, had nothing more to offer. And Bettina had now reached a point in her experience where material pleasure seemed to be all that was left.
When the time came for Bettina to leave, she found that the cab in which she had come had been sent away, and, in its place, Lord Hurdly's brougham waited for her.
"There was a great deal of it that I hardly took in. But in any case there is nothing for me to do. As you know, my services have not been asked, and certainly there is no place for them. I have nothing whatever to do with the executing of Lord Hurdly's will. Indeed, my plans are all made to return to America immediately."
Her better nature still held her to her pledge to Horace, but already she had come to feel that, but for his disappointment at losing her, she would have accepted Lord Hurdly's proposal, as it offered a full and immediate fulfilment of her dreams of ambition, and the other postponed these indefinitely, while it promised comparatively little in any other direction.
Not one penny had been left him except what was his by legal right; but Lord Hurdly's personal fortune had been an inconsiderable part of the estate, so that Horace was now a man of great wealth as well as the bearer of an old and noble title. The signature to this telegram was one of the things that affected Bettina.
She could and did refuse to recognize it, even in her own soul; but there it was, and there it remained, to rise again and again, and almost stifle her with the sinister possibility which it suggested. This fear was based upon the clearer knowledge of Lord Hurdly's character which had come to her since marriage.
Then he crossed the room and touched an electric button, saying, as he did so: "I will get rid of an engagement that I had, so that I may be quite at leisure to talk with you." Neither spoke again until the servant had come, taken his instructions, and gone away, closing the door behind him. There was a certain determination in Lord Hurdly's manner and expression which did not escape Bettina.
The man I am going to marry is your cousin and heir, Horace Spotswood." Lord Hurdly's guarded face betrayed a certain agitation, but the signs of this were quickly controlled. He looked straight into her eyes for a few seconds without speaking.
Word Of The Day