"There is no greater happiness than that which marriage affords when one is married to the person one loves. Do you think your father has been unhappy, Leycester?"
He turned to her with a smile.
"Every man—few men have his luck, my lady. Will you find me another Lady Ethel?"
She colored. This was a direct question, and she longed to answer it, but she dared not—not just yet.
"The world is full of fond, loving women," she said.
He nodded. He thought he knew one at least, and his eyes went to that mental vision of Stella again.
"Leycester, I want to see you married and settled," she murmured, after a pause. "It is time; it is fitting that you should be. I'll put the question of your own happiness aside for the moment; there are other things at stake."
"You would not like me to be the last Earl of Wyndward, mother? The title would die with me, would it not?"
"Yes," she said. "That must not be, Leycester."
He shook his head with a quiet smile. No, it should not be, he thought.