Nothing was said of his own relation to her mother's case; but he saw
that she understood it, and their hearts moved together. When he rose to
take his leave she held his hand in hers with such a look in her eyes as
a daughter might have worn; and he, with an emotion to which he gave
little outward expression, vowed to himself that henceforward she should
lack no fatherly help or counsel that he could give her.
He gathered, with relief, that the engagement persisted, and the
perception led him to praise Marsham in a warm Irish way. But he could
not find anything hopeful to say of Lady Lucy. "If you only hold to each
other, my dear young lady, things will come right!" Diana flushed and
shrank a little, and he felt--helplessly--that the battle was for their
fighting, and not his.
Meanwhile, as he had seen Mr. Riley, he did his best to prepare her for
the letters and enclosures, which had been for twenty years in the
custody of the firm, and would reach her on the morrow.
But what he did not prepare her for was the letter from Lady Lucy
Marsham which reached Beechcote by the evening post, after Sir James
had left.
The letter lay awhile on Diana's knee, unopened.
Pages:
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377