"When you have finished insulting me, Lady Temple, I shall be glad to leave the room."
"You shall not leave the room till I am asleep. Marry whom you like except my nephew. If he marries you he is a beggar by it. I am tired of talking. I will take my medicine."
She empties the glass, and sinks back on her pillow. The medicine is an opiate, but even while she yields to its influence, she continues to murmur, in a tone so low that only Nelly now can hear her.
"Marriage, indeed! As if he means it, and as if, meaning it even, he dared to thwart me! A pair of fools! They will rue the day!"
Thus she mutters until sleep overpowers her, and she takes her theme with her into the land of dreams.
Mr. Temple steals from his hiding-place.
"She is in a sweet temper," he says in a whisper, placing his hands on Nelly's shoulders, and drawing her to him. "I was very nearly coming forward and spoiling everything; but I couldn't afford to do it. Nelly, I want to know about that gardener's son."
She yields to his embrace for a moment, then draws away.
"I can tell you nothing now. Go, for my sake, lest she should awake."
"For your sake, then. Do not forget. In an hour, by the brook."