These were hard words, and facts; but the Honourable Julia Ffinch never flinched from the plainest of plain-speaking.
"And Mayne naturally feels bound in honour to provide for you."
An expressive silence followed this bald statement.
"Dear me, how you do stare, child! You know, I'm fond of you, Nancy, darling, and I'm most frightfully upset about all this terrible trouble; but just at the moment, I want to put my own feelings entirely aside, and try and act for your benefit. I had no idea, that we were in the least likely to lose you, or that you were on the brink of such an awful leap in the dark. There's no time to be lost; now is the moment for action. I shall go and have a good square talk with Captain Mayne. I see him wandering about outside, looking for all the world as if he were a lost dog."
As Mrs. Ffinch stepped down from the verandah to accost him, her first words were:
"So you and Nancy are married!"
"Yes," he replied. "Don't you approve?"
"I am simply horrified," she answered, with deliberate emphasis. "Yes, I am."
"But why?" he asked. "It was quite a sound thing to do."
"Only for the circumstances of the case, neither of you would ever have dreamt of such a mad proceeding. Come, would you—honour bright?"