"I begin to hate myself," said the young man in a low voice; "but even now, what can I do? What power have I to wrest her from the influence of that woman?"
"What power? The power of honest and generous love. Ask her to marry you."
Lord Hilton answered with a faint, bitter laugh.
"Ask her to marry me, and, with that act, proclaim myself a beggar! I tell you, Lady Clara, there is not upon this earth a creature so dependent as a nobleman with nothing but expectations. Were I to follow your advice the doors of my home would be closed against me. I should have a title, by courtesy, to offer my wife, and nothing more. She would, perhaps, be compelled to go on the stage to support me—a poor substitute for these two vast estates which these old people hope to unite in us."
CHAPTER XXV.
HOW LADY CLARA GOT HER OWN WAY.
Lady Clara turned on the young nobleman with glowing anger.
"Lord Hilton," she said, "it is the land they are thinking of; but an earthquake may swallow it before I will sell a corner of my heart at their price. I am only a girl, Lord Hilton, and, perhaps, this ancestral grandeur seems less to me on that account; but the noblest possession that can be given to me is liberty—liberty of heart, limb and conscience—liberty to love and hate—though I do not hate any one very much—but to love that which is splendid and good without regard to anything else. The grandest thing upon the face of the earth, Lord Hilton, is to own oneself. If I were a man no one should own me but the woman I loved."
Was the girl inspired? You would have thought so from the sparkle that came into her eyes, like sunshine striking the dew in a violet—from the quick, generous curve of her lips, and the flush of color that rushed over her face.
Lord Hilton looked at her with such admiration as would, perhaps, have made obedience to the wishes of his family an easier thing than he dreamed of; but he knew something of the world, and had, more than once, searched the female hearts that came in his way, for the gratification of vanity alone. He read the one before him on the instant.