“I care not for beauty, and am but as nature made me. I will not give my consent to this suit against my husband.”
“You surely do not mean to say that you will oppose the wishes of Earl Ethalwood?”
“Oh, I don’t know what to do!” said Aveline, bursting into a flood of tears. “I am the most miserable creature in the whole creation.”
“I should have thought——” exclaimed her ladyship, pausing suddenly.
“Should have thought what?”
“Well, I don’t know. May I speak plainly?”
“Certainly.”
“And you promise not to be offended?”
“I promise.”
“I should have thought, after what we both witnessed at the opera, that you would have no hesitation——”