Aveline uttered an expression as of sudden pain.
“These are indeed hard terms, sir,” she exclaimed. “It might be said cruel proposals.”
“They are what I have been instructed to make to you,” returned the lawyer, with a shrug.
“Leave my husbund, who is the best and kindest that ever woman had! I would not do it for any consideration. He loves me, and I will not consent to break an honest man’s heart.”
“I expected this answer,” said Mr. Chicknell, “and it therefore does not surprise me; but if I might suggest, madam, it would be that you take time to consider the matter. This is but just and reasonable.”
“You have no right to tempt me thus by making such an offer,” she exclaimed, in an angry tone.
“I have simply done my duty,” he answered, “by acting in accordance with the instructions received from my client.”
“Tell this proud nobleman that I will never give my consent to such a course of action.”
She looked so lovely in her pride, her anger, and her tears, that the lawyer wished his client could have seen her at that moment.
He waited patiently till her indignation had in a measure passed over—then he said—