Coralie by Charlotte M. Brame

Author:Charlotte M. Brame
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781620134863
Publisher: Duke Classics

Chapter IX

*

I would not leave the manor house until I had seen Sir John. Agatha did not go back to the drawing-room with me.

"What will mamma think?" she said, in utter dismay. "See how late it is; and the dew has fallen."

"I will tell her why I detained you, Agatha. You are sure that I shall not wake up tomorrow and find all this is a dream?"

"I do not think so," she replied; and then she would not stop for another word, and I went in to meet Lady Thesiger alone.

She was surprised when I told her. No matter what Coralie said about maneuvering, if ever I saw real, genuine surprise in any woman's face, it was in Lady Thesiger's this evening.

"You have asked Agatha to marry you!" she repeated, looking half bewildered; "and pray, Sir Edgar, what did the child say?"

"She promised to marry me," I replied, more boldly; "that is, of course, if Sir John and you, Lady Thesiger, have no objection."

"I am afraid that you have not taken that much into consideration. Asked the child to marry you! Why, Sir Edgar, how long have you been in love with her?"

"From the very first moment I ever saw her."

"Why," cried her ladyship, "Sir John told me you were in love, and had promised to confide in him."

Remembering what I had said to him, I explained to her that in speaking as I had done I referred entirely to Agatha.

"It is so utterly unexpected," she said, "that you must pardon my strange reception of your intelligence."

She sat quite silent for some minutes, then continued:

"It seems so strange for you to fall in love with Agatha. The dearest wish of Sir Barnard's heart was to have her for a daughter-in-law."

A fierce spasm of jealousy almost robbed me of my breath.

"Did she—did she—"

Then I could get no further.

"No, Agatha did not like Miles, if that is what you mean?"

"Did Miles love her?"

"I cannot tell—there was something very mysterious about him. He looked to me like one who had a secret on his mind. I have often wondered what it could be. He was not a happy man of late years."

"You have not told me yet, Lady Thesiger, if I have your good wishes."

She held out her hand with a gracious, kindly smile.

"Shall I tell you the truth—no flattery, but just the simple truth? I would rather Agatha married you than any other man in the nation. She has not only my full consent, but I am pleased, proud and happy."

"And Sir John, shall I have his consent?"

"There is little doubt of it. I hear him now—he has just arrived, I suppose. You shall see him at once."

I rode away from Harden Manor that night a happy man. Sir John, like Lady Thesiger, gave his full, free, unhesitating consent. We had a long, confidential conversation. He told me how his affairs stood. He was a wealthy man, but his expenses were great. He told me frankly that he should not be able

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