No wonder he was radiant when he came to explain
his plans to me.
He had some difficulty in telling all that had happened. He
hesitated, blushed, hummed, and hawed. Misgivings began to cross his
mind when he found himself obliged to tell his story to someone
else. He felt inclined to slur things over, but I wanted to get at the
facts, so I helped him over the bad places, and questioned him tin I
had got out pretty nearly the whole story as I have given it above.
I hope I did not show it, but I was very angry. I had begun to
like Ernest. I don't know why, but I never have heard that any young
man to whom I had become attached was going to get married without
hating his intended instinctively, though I had never seen her; I have
observed that most bachelors feel the same thing, though we are
generally at some pains to hide the fact. Perhaps it is because we
know we ought to have got married ourselves. Ordinarily we say we
are delighted- in the present case I did not feel obliged to do
this, though I made an effort to conceal my vexation. That a young man
of much promise who was heir also to what was now a handsome
fortune, should fling himself away upon such a person as Ellen was
quite too provoking, and the more so because of the unexpectedness
of the whole affair.
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