"You are commissioned to take my answer to Lord Storndale."
"I am."
"I may trust you to convey that answer as nearly as possible in my own words?"
"It shall be my endeavor."
"You will tell him, then, that the mission with which he has intrusted you is a surprise to me. Until this day I never heard his name, nor until this day have I heard the name of his son. Never before, to my knowledge, has my daughter concealed anything from me or from her mother, and I need not say that what you have revealed is a grief to me, and will be to her mother if it comes to her ears. That our daughter must have been under the spell of some powerful influence to induce her to keep us in ignorance of what was passing between her and your client's son is in my judgment indisputable, and the inference is that this influence has been exercised by the young man, who must have bound her by a solemn promise to say nothing of the attentions he has paid to her. I have no hesitation in declaring that no honorable man would have acted in a manner so clandestine and secret, and you will inform Lord Storndale that in my opinion his son is not a man of honor. A young girl's trustfulness and innocence should be her safeguard, but here they have been basely used by a man who, according to your own statement, by his external accomplishments has unhappily attracted her. It has not been concealed from us that our daughter has mixed a little in society outside our special family circle, for in her participation of these, as I hoped, harmless pleasures she had generally been accompanied by her mother, who, I grieve to say, is blind.
"This affliction has necessarily prevented her from keeping that watch over her daughter which is a mother's loving duty, and of this affliction your client's son has taken a base advantage. You speak of the pride of race as affecting Lord Storndale. We have also that pride, and if we were so far forgetful of the obligations of our faith as to admit your client's son into our family it is upon him and upon Lord Storndale, not upon us, that honor would have been conferred. Such an alliance will never, with my sanction, be entered into, and I will endeavor to guard my daughter from the peril with which she is threatened."
Mr. Dillworthy, having obtained his point, wisely dropped the subject. He briefly expressed his obligations to Aaron, and rose to take his departure.
Before he reached the door, however, he turned, and in a tone of courteous deference asked if Mr. Cohen could spare him a few moments more.
Aaron assenting, the lawyer resumed his seat, and taking a pocketbook from his pocket, searched in it for a letter.