"Sir John, my nerves are excited by the conduct of my children. Am I the mother of the future Duchess of Forfar? Am I to be the proud mother of a child raised to the very pinnacle of worldly grandeur?" "You will be the mother of a child truly happy in her worldly prospects, if your mind will but look rationally upon its promises, my dear Gertrude." "Am I to be the mother of Lady Farnborough?" repeated the excited parent. "Our daughter has not committed the base folly of accepting one man, when her heart belonged to another, Gertrude." "Did _I_ not do so before her, Sir John? I never repented _my_ marriage!" "It might be so, my love, but Chrystal never possessed your ambition, to soar over affection and honour, through its cold dictates." "Am I to understand Bell has refused Lord Farnborough, Sir John? Is that the reading of your words? Pray speak it in intelligible words." "Christobelle has declined his lordship, Gertrude. Her heart preferred Spottiswoode, and my concurrence went with it." "Perhaps you will convey a message from me to the future Lady Spottiswoode of Alverton, among the flat meadows of Worcestershire, Sir John," replied his lady, in the calm tones of suppressed anger. "Tell my Lady Spottiswoode it is my request she never presumes to appear before me during the days of her singlehood." "Gertrude, Gertrude," exclaimed her husband, "is this request a fit message from a mother to her child?" "I had always a dislike to scenes," observed her ladyship, "therefore, I shall not reproach Miss Wetheral with her deceptive conduct in allowing attentions from a quarter which I never countenanced, and after my express commands to avoid them. I ever deprecated scenes before Lady Kerrison--but her violent spirit scorned restraint. She gave me deep pain; and Lady Ennismore's banishment has caused me pain--but this stroke lies far deeper in my heart!" Lady Wetheral became all nerve: her whole person was in a nervous trembling. Her husband failed in every effort to tranquillize her spirit. "You may dilate upon the supreme excellence of your favourite Spottiswoode, my love, and you may assure me your daughter is an enviable and a happy being; but I know she has cast aside a ducal coronet, to wed the poor baronet of Alverton! I will see her no more. I will never see her again." "My dear Gertrude, be tranquil, and be rational." Sir John Wetheral never could be persuaded to lose his temper. "I am perfectly tranquil and calm, Sir John. I am perfectly tranquil, and very rational in my commands, when I persist in banishing my unnatural child from my sight. Miss Wetheral has taken her measures, and I assert mine. We do not meet again." "This is wrong, a wicked wrong, towards an innocent child, Gertrude!"