“Not much avail.”
“None whatever.”
“I do hope and trust he will get over the disappointment.”
“I don’t think he ever will.”
“That is very sad, indeed. But cannot you divine the reason for her objecting to the union?”
“I have my ideas upon the subject; but these are only surmises, which are vague and unsupported by facts. Still, I am under the impression that there is a reason—what this is I do not care to say.”
“Oh, no—I suppose so. Far be it from me to intrude upon family secrets. These are matters which no man has a right to inquire into.”
“It is altogether a most unfortunate affair, and one I have great reason to regret. I wish now we had never seen Gerome Chanet. I fancy we should all of us have been spared a great deal of anxiety had we not known him.”
“That is likely enough, madame,” returned Ethalwood, “but it is impossible for the wisest of us to foresee these things. It would have been well, perhaps, if I had not been so close an intimate of the family.”
“I have not said so, my lord.”