“What! Not marry you? Did you ask her?”
“She said ‘no’.”
“Oh, but she be to marry you! Your father would not have taken ‘no’, sir.”
“A man cannot force a rich girl to be his wife. If you will speak to Mary, you will understand how useless any further hope is.”
“I will speak to her. I can hardly believe this sorrow has really come to me.”
He rose and went to his niece. “Come here, Mary, and sit down beside me. Allan tells me you will not have him for your husband. Your decision is a sore trouble to me; almost the worst trouble that could come to me. Oh, Mary, what is the matter? Is not Allan handsome, and kind, and good, and rich enough to mate you? And he loves you, too; I am sure he loves you; he could not help it.”
“But, uncle, what if he loves some other girl better than me?”
“That isn’t possible. Did he tell you such a thing as that?”
“No; but I am sure it is so. However, Allan is the second thought, uncle; Drumloch is the first. We must save Drumloch for the Campbells, uncle.”
“You dear lassie! But how can that be done if Allan is not in the same mind?”