"Annabel is resolved to go abroad. She says she detests England. You had better make the best of the inevitable, Duke. I shall want one thousand pounds."
"I cannot spare a thousand pounds. My expenses have been very great this past winter."
"Still, I shall require a thousand pounds."
The d.u.c.h.ess had just left her husband with this question to consider.
He did not want to part with a thousand pounds, and he did not want to part with Annabel. She was the brightest element in his life. She had become dear to him, and the thought of her fortune made his financial difficulties easier to bear. For the enc.u.mbrances which the times forced him to lay on his estate need not embarra.s.s Piers; Annabel"s money would easily remove them.
He was under the influence of these conflicting emotions, when Piers entered the room, with a brusque hurry quite at variance with his natural placid manner. The Duke started at the clash of the door. It gave him a twinge of pain; it dissipated his reveries; and he asked petulantly, "What brings you here so early, and so noisily, Piers?"
"I am in great trouble, sir. Squire Atheling--"
"Squire Atheling again! I am weary of the man!"
"He has forbidden me to see Miss Atheling."
"He has done quite right. I did not expect so much propriety from him."
"Until you give your consent to our marriage."
"Why, then, you will see her no more, Piers. I will never give it.
Never! We need not multiply words. You will marry Annabel."
"Suppose Annabel will not marry me?"
"The supposition is impossible, therefore unnecessary."
"If I cannot marry Miss Atheling, I will remain unmarried."
"That threat is as old as the world; it amounts to nothing."
"On all public and social questions, I am your obedient son and successor. I claim the right to choose my wife."
"A man in your position, Piers, has not this privilege. I had not. If I had followed my youthful desires, I should have married an Italian woman. I married, not to please myself, but for the good of Richmoor; and I am glad to-day that I did so. Your duty to Richmoor is first; to yourself, secondary."
"Have you anything against Miss Atheling?"
"I object to her family--though they are undoubtedly in direct descent from the royal Saxon family of Atheling; I object to her poverty; I object to her taking the place of a young lady who has every desirable qualification for your wife."
"Is there no way to meet these objections, sir?"
"No way whatever." At these words the Duke stood painfully up, and said, with angry emphasis, "I will not have this subject mentioned to me again. It is dead. I forbid you to speak of it." Then he rang the bell for his Secretary, and gave him some orders. Lord Exham leaned against the mantelpiece, lost in sorrowful thought, until the Duke turned to him and said,--
"I am going to ride; will you go with me? There are letters from Wetherell and Lyndhurst to talk over."
"I cannot think of politics at present. I should be no help to you."
"Your mother and Annabel are thinking of going to Germany. I wish you would persuade them to stop at home. Is Annabel sick? I am told she is."
"I do not know, sir."
"You might trouble yourself to inquire."
"Father, I have never at any time disobeyed you. Permit me to marry the woman I love. In all else, I follow where you lead."
"Piers, my dear son, if my wisdom is sufficient for "all else,"
can you not trust it in this matter? Miss Atheling is an impossibility,--mind, I say an impossibility,--now, and to-morrow, and in all the future. That is enough about Miss Atheling. Good-afternoon! I feel far from well, and I will try what a gallop may do for me."
Piers bowed; he could not speak. His heart beat at his lips; he was choking with emotion. The very att.i.tude of the Duke filled him with despair. It permitted of no argument; it would allow of no hope. He knew the Squire"s mood was just as inexorable as his father"s. Mrs.
Atheling had defined the position very well, when she called the two men, "upper and nether millstones." Kate and he were now between them.
And there was only one way out of the situation supposable. If Kate was willing, they could marry without permission. The Rector of Belward would not be difficult to manage; for the Duke had nothing to do with Belward; it was in the gift of Mrs. Atheling. On some appointed morning Kate could meet him before the little altar. Love has ways and means and messengers; and his face flushed, and a kind of angry hope came into his heart as this idea entered it. Just then, he did not consider how far Kate would fall below his best thoughts if it were possible to persuade her to such clandestine disobedience.
The Duke was pleased with himself. He felt that he had settled the disagreeable question promptly and kindly; and he was cantering cheerfully across Belward Bents, when he came suddenly face to face with Squire Atheling. The surprise was not pleasant; but he instantly resolved to turn it to service.
"Squire," he said, with a forced heartiness, "well met! I thank you for your co-operation. In forbidding Lord Exham your daughter"s society, you have done precisely what I wished you to do."
"There is no "co-operation" in the question, Duke. I considered only Miss Atheling"s rights and happiness. And what I have done, was not done for any wish of yours, but to satisfy myself. Lord Exham is your business, not mine."
"I have just told him that a marriage with Miss Atheling is out of all consideration; that both you and I are of this opinion; and, I may add, that my plans for Lord Exham"s future would be utterly ruined by a _mesalliance_ at this time."
"You will retract the word "_mesalliance_," Duke. You know Miss Atheling"s lineage, and that a duke of the reigning family would make no "_mesalliance_" in marrying her. I say retract the word!" and the Squire involuntarily gave emphasis to the order by the pa.s.sionate tightening of his hand on his riding-whip.
"I certainly retract any word that gives you offence, Squire. I meant no reflection on Miss Atheling, who is a most charming young lady--"
"There is no more necessity for compliments than for--the other thing. I have told Miss Atheling to see Lord Exham no more. I will make my order still more positive to her."
"Yet, Squire, lovers will often outwit the wisest fathers."
"My daughter will give me her word, and she would not be an Atheling if she broke it. I shall make her understand that I will never forgive her if she allies herself with the house of Richmoor."
"Come, come, Squire! You need not speak so contemptuously of the house of Richmoor. The n.o.blest women in England would gladly ally themselves with my house."
"I cannot prevent them doing so; but I can keep my own daughter"s honour, and I will. Good-afternoon, Duke! I hope this is our last word on a subject so unpleasant."
"I hope so. Squire, there are some important letters from Lyndhurst and Wetherell; can you come to the Castle to-morrow and talk them over with me."
"I cannot, Duke."
Then the Duke bowed haughtily, and gave his horse both rein and whip; and the angry thoughts in his heart were, "What a proud, perverse unmanageable creature! He was as ready to strike as to speak. If I had been equally uncivilised, we should have come to blows as easily as words. I am sorry I have had any dealings with the fellow. Julia warned me--a man ought to take his wife"s advice wherever women are factors in a question. Confound the whole race of country squires!--they make all the trouble that is made."
Squire Atheling had not any more pleasant thoughts about dukes; but they were an undercurrent, his daughter dominated them. He dreaded his next interview with her, but was not inclined to put it off, even when he found her, on his return home, with Mrs. Atheling. She had been weeping; she hardly dried her tears on his approach. Her lovely face was flushed and feverish; she had the look of a rose blown by a stormy wind. He pushed his chair to her side, and gently drew her on to his knees, and put his arm around her, as he said,--
"My little girl, I am sorry! I am sorry! But it has to be, Kitty. There is no hope, and I will not fool thee with false promises. I have just had a talk with Richmoor. He was very rude, very rude indeed, to thy father." She did not speak or lift her eyes; and the Squire continued, "He used a word about a marriage with thee that I would not permit.
I had to bring him to his senses."
"Oh, Father!"
"Would you have me sit quiet and hear the Athelings made little of."