With this heroic resolve, Mrs. Carter left the studio.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
YOUNG LAMBERT SPEAKS OUT.
“Yes, mother, it is the truth; I have seen the young lady more than once.”
“I know it, Ivon. You were seen walking by her side in the street.”
Mrs. Lambert spoke calmly, but with a cold intonation of the voice that her step-son understood as something far more expressive than an outburst of anger; but his answer was as quiet as her question had been.
“Once or twice I found myself on the same side-walk with the young lady to whom I have been properly introduced.”
“Properly introduced! How can that be? There is no proper introduction between a shop-girl and a young gentleman of position and fortune,” replied the lady, with an angry flush on her cheeks.
“Position, if you please; but as for the fortune, that depends—— I claim nothing on expectations. It would be arrogance if I did.’
“This is a sudden fit of humility, Ivon.”
“No, madam, it is not sudden; the thought has been in my mind a long time. No man has a right to discount on the future, or waste his energies because there is no immediate need that they should be put forth. Say that I am young, well educated, and have just property enough, from my father, for individual independence, and you will have defined my position exactly. Is it so very much better than that of the young lady we are speaking of?”