“Yes, I know,” and Edith’s white fingers threaded his hair caressingly. “I can imagine that; but, Howard, consider the difference between Robert and those whom we saw in Alnwick, and remember there is a nobility from within which should level all outward distinctions. You chose _me_ without money, family, or name, and Robert has all these. The Macphersons are among the first in Scotland, and you will not condemn him for the accident of his mother’s birth. You can afford to be generous. Let me go for Emma now, and see you make her happy by giving her to the man she loves.” She had caressed him all the time, and her caresses did quite as much toward mollifying him as her arguments. She saw the wavering of his purpose in his eyes, and, as he did not forbid her, she went at once for Emma, whom she led into the room, and whose hand she placed in Robert’s, as she said: “Now, husband, give them your blessing, and say that you are willing.” “I cannot say I am willing,” the colonel answered, in a husky voice: “but we sometimes assent to what we do not like, and if Emma wants this young man, and thinks she can be happy with him away from all her family, I will not oppose her,—only let everything be done very quietly and unostentatiously. I could not endure a parade.” And thus he gave his consent, which hurt almost as much as it pleased, though Emma put her arms around his neck, and thanked him for having made her so happy; but Robert merely bowed his thanks, and, with a manner as lofty and haughty as that of any Schuyler, left the room. Emma soon joined him, and with her he forgot in part the little sting, and thought only of the future, when she would be his wife and the mistress of Glenthorpe, a place finer even than Schuyler Hill, with a long line of noble ancestry, and a coat-of arms to give importance to it. CHAPTER XLVI. GODFREY AND HIS FATHER. The dinner at Schuyler Hill that day was a rather dull affair compared with what the dinners usually were; for Alice and Julia kept their rooms with the headache, while immediately after his interview with Robert, the colonel had gone up the river a few miles on some business, which he told Edith might detain him past the dinner hour, and if so, she was not to wait. As he did not return, they sat down without him, but only Godfrey was inclined to talk. He had heard Robert’s story from Robert himself, and had indorsed him heartily, and teasingly congratulated Emma for having done so much better than he ever thought she could do with her little ankles and milk-and-water face.