When Tregear left him, Silverbridge went to his father's room. He was anxious that they should understand each other as to Mary's engagement.
"I thought you were at the House," said the Duke.
"I was going there, but I met Tregear at the door. He tells me you have accepted him for Mary."
"I wish that he had never seen her. Do you think that a man can be thwarted in everything and not feel it?"
"I thought—you had reconciled yourself—to Isabel."
"If it were that alone I could do so the more easily, because personally she wins upon me. And this man, too;—it is not that I find fault with himself."
"He is in all respects a high-minded gentleman."
"I hope so. But yet, had he a right to set his heart there, where he could make his fortune,—having none of his own?"
"He did not think of that."
"He should have thought of it. A man does not allow himself to love without any consideration or purpose. You say that he is a gentleman. A gentleman should not look to live on means brought to him by a wife. You say that he did not."