"I say so now, and they shall be as though they had been never spoken. So you bearded the Duke in his den, and asked him for Lady Mary's hand,—just as though you had been a young Duke yourself and owned half a county?"
"Just the same."
"And what did he say?"
"He swore that it was impossible.—Of course I knew all that before."
"How will it be now? You will not give it up?"
"Certainly not."
"And Lady Mary?"
"One human being can perhaps never answer for another with perfect security."
"But you feel sure of her?"
"I do."