"I flatter myself I shall be able to compete with my husband's mother," said Julia, in a tone slightly tinged with contempt. "I should consider myself strangely altered, if my husband turned from me, to consult his mother. No, papa, I have no fear of that insult--Ennismore has too much affection for me." "Ennismore is not capable of affection, Julia." "Well, papa, you are saying the most unkind things possible of Lord Ennismore, and, indeed, excuse me if I say you are quite wrong in accusing him of want of affection." A burst of tears followed poor Julia's hurried speech. Sir John again repeated his strong objections to the match, and endeavoured to point out the fallacy of attempting to win Lord Ennismore's confidence--the confidence of a man whose mind nearly approached to imbecility, but who was linked to his mother by the strong force of long habit; and her control over his actions, fixed by constant and unceasing attention to his selfish wants. In vain he placed before his daughter's mind the misery she must endure when the veil should be torn from her eyes, and she woke to the certainty of being united for life to a man she despised--a man inferior to herself in head and heart, yet possessing neither respect nor affection for the woman he had married. In vain he painted her longing for the home she had quitted, when all its pleasures, its tranquillity, would be of no avail; when she could never more claim or enjoy them--all was in vain! Julia could not, would not, admit a doubt of her power over Ennismore's heart, and she disclaimed all observations relative to the weakness of his capacity. "It was easy enough," she said, "to fix incapacity upon a young man whom Providence had afflicted with illness, but the proof was insufficient. She would rather say Providence had raised her up to watch over Lord Ennismore, and smooth the rough path he was destined to tread: certainly every disagreeable remark that could be devised was brought up in array before her, yet she could not feel alarmed: she was prepared to meet the trials which her mamma told her belonged to matrimony, especially where poverty presided: poverty would not be the case in this instance, and she must be allowed to say she could not resign Lord Ennismore upon what had been alleged against him. If her papa positively forbade the match, she would submit, but nothing short of his decided prohibition would induce her to renounce a man she liked and approved. "I would rather follow you to the grave, Julia, than see you the wife of Ennismore!" exclaimed her father. "The grave, then, papa, will be my portion, if you are determined to be unkind to poor Lord Ennismore, whom you invited yourself to Wetheral."