“Do not be angry with me,” said Durant quite humbly. He could afford to be humble with Lucy backing him up. “I have not betrayed to him this feeling, which--if it is fantastic I cannot help it.” Here Lucy made a slight movement which seemed to him to imply a “no, no,” “I have acted against it. It was not in my mind at first. But if you will consider the circumstances--There is nothing which can be called entrapping. Nothing has been done to deceive him, all the reverse; and he has engaged himself to this girl voluntarily, made every kind of promise to her. Can I bid him withdraw now, perjure himself, deceive her?” “Tut! tut!” said Lady Curtis, “don’t deceive yourself with big words; all this solemnity is unnecessary. They are not accustomed to it in that class of society; a little arrangement with the family, an offer of so much--Do you really think more would be wanted? Mr. Durant, you are too romantic. How I wish I had gone myself!” “You would have done no good had you gone yourself. Even if you could have persuaded the family, there is Arthur to deal with--and her--He loves her, Lady Curtis, there is no sham on Arthur’s part.” “Fiddlesticks!” she cried, rising again in restless excitement. “Arthur, a boy, a light-hearted creature that would mend of any heartbreak in a week; and she--of course I don’t know her--but there is nothing so good for wounded feelings, or so healing, as banknotes.” “Mamma!” said Lucy, holding out her hands with a mute entreaty; and then she added, “If you offered them money, what would Arthur say?” “Oh, what would Arthur say? and what would Arthur do? and is he not bound to keep his word?” cried Lady Curtis. “How you worry me with your sentimentalizing! What should have been done was to bring him away, to hush it up. And it might have been done; but Mr. Durant has spoiled it all; he might have done it. Nobody has so much power with Arthur. If he had only brought him away for a single day all might have been well.” “He would not have come,” said Durant, more to himself than to her, for he was vexed and angry, though he was most anxious not to show it. “I--power with him! He quarrelled with me outright, would not speak to me. I tried what I could. The family might have yielded, but she would not yield--not an inch. She told me--when I threatened that Sir John and you would withdraw or diminish his allowance, and that he might become poor--that there was all the more reason why she should hold by him--it would prove her sincerity.” “I should have said the same thing,” said Lucy, holding her breath. “You! you have been brought up very differently. So, she was disinterested, was she? Ah!” said Lady Curtis, calming a little, “that is more dangerous than I thought.” “Yes,” said Durant, pleased to have produced some effect, and carried beyond the bounds of prudence, “that is exactly what she said. It was her only chance to show that it was of himself she was thinking, not any wish to be rich or to become my lady.”