“I don’t put myself on her side, but Arthur has done nothing irremediable--I cannot, I cannot allow it to be said! Oh, foolish, foolish! unwise, unkind, ill-judged, whatever you please,” she said, “but he has done nothing against his honour, or against nature. He may repent it bitterly; but what he has done is not irremediable, I cannot have it said.” “All for love,” said the Rector musing, with a half smile, “and the world well lost!” “I do not mean anything nonsensical,” said Lucy, blushing hotly with the shame of youth for being supposed capable of high-flown sentiment. “I am speaking of mere truth and honour. What is a man who is false to his word? who can be shaken off by other people’s interference from the most solemn engagements a man can make? I had not thought of it when we left home. It seemed just like going to get Arthur out of any foolish scrape--as you did when he was saucy at Eton--and when he got into trouble about his work. But this is different--a man must keep his word.” “When he has made mad promises that will ruin him--when he is cheated into vows he does not mean--when he makes engagements that will be the torment and destruction of his life?” “I--I--suppose so--when he has given his word,” said Lucy, overwhelmed by her mother’s vehemence, and by the sudden sense that even to this subject, which seemed so distinct, there was a second side. CHAPTER XV. “I hope you are not vexed by the interest I take in it,” said the Rector. “I fear my aunt is, though why, I cannot imagine; but, Lucy, I wish you would trust me, and tell me what you can. Who has a better right to be interested than I have? Not to say that I have been fond of Arthur all his life, and that he is one of my nearest relations, next thing to a brother, already.” There was something in the way in which he pronounced this “already” which roused Lucy, she did not quite know why. It seemed to convey an insinuation that there were still closer connections possible. She interrupted him hastily. “I never knew that Arthur and you were such very good friends. Oh, yes, cousins, of course. But cousin means almost anything, much or little, as people like.” “That is not a very kind speech,” he said. “I always thought I had a certain right both to Arthur and you; but when you say this--” “I do not mean anything unkind, but it is so. When people have been brought up together it is different. Arthur’s great friend,” said Lucy, firmly, and with decision, though with a slight, additional colour, “who is like a brother to him, is Mr. Durant.” The Rector smiled. “You snub me very unmercifully,” he said, “and I don’t know why either. I suppose you mean that Arthur does not care for me. Well, of course, if it is so, one must put up with that. Durant? yes, Durant, I know, was his great ally; but since they have lost all their money, I thought Durant could not afford to keep up idle friendship; so, at least, it was said.”