"I do think she will—honestly, I do—if you are patient and gentle, and do as I tell you. She will be dull and lonely; she will miss you about her, and not only you, but many pleasant things that are associated with you; she will bethink herself that she has treated you badly—as indeed she has—and she is so tender-hearted that it will fret her. And if she sees you occasionally, not in season and out of season, but now and then, at opportune times, and you do her little voluntary services in a delicate and unobtrusive way—then some of these days, seeing you still, she will suddenly think that she loves you, and—well, then it will be all right, you know."
"Oh, I hope so!" he broke out, with a deep, impatient sigh—though it was not a great deal to hope for when it came to be reckoned up. "But how long will she be reaching that point?"
"It depends."
"And we were to have been married in a couple of months—three at the most. Upon my honour, it is too bad!"
"I shouldn't be surprised if you were married quite as soon as you arranged to be," Mrs. Reade proceeded calmly, building this comfortable theory upon the conviction that Mr. Dalrymple, in spite of his persistence in calling at Toorak, was not the kind of man to remain faithful to a ball-room fancy, nor to undertake anything so expensive and so respectable as matrimony under the most favourable conjunction of circumstances; and feeling sure that Rachel, with her clinging, impulsive nature, finding her desires frustrated in this direction, would be under an imperious necessity to seek—or, at any rate, to accept—support elsewhere. "If I had her with me for six weeks, I think I would not mind risking a small bet——"
"Can't you have her with you?" Mr. Kingston interposed eagerly.
"No, I fear not. My mother would not consent to let her go from home just now. The situation is too grave. But even as things are, if you manage the child properly, I don't at all despair of seeing you married—or, at any rate, engaged again—before the year is out. Very far from it."
"I would give a thousand pounds at this moment if I could be certain that that would be," sighed Mr. Kingston, plaintively.
"Only you must do what I tell you. I assure you, if you want to succeed, that is your best, if not your only chance. Will you do what I tell you?"
"I will see Rachel first."