“And he would not listen?” she asked, falling sadly back from my arms. “Still you thought he loved me, and were so certain of it only last night.”
“But I think it no longer. God help you, my poor Cora—with all this inheritance—and I offered it—I have no power to make him feel.”
“And you tried to bribe him into loving me; that was unkind, Zana.”
“No, Cora; other reasons which you do not comprehend influenced what I did, as well as a wish to make you happy. His mother, I think, would have yielded, but he”——
“His mother, Zana—he has no mother.”
“In one sense, perhaps not; but Lady Catherine”——
“Lady Catherine.”
“Yes, Lady Catherine, is she not George Irving’s mother?” I cried, surprised by her bewildered look and words.
“Yes, surely; but then what is George Irving to me, or Lady Catherine either, save that she in some sort controls his fortunes?”
“Cora!” I almost shrieked, seizing her hands, “what is this? Who, who is the man? Tell me it is not George Irving that you love, and I will fall down and worship you.”