“And how do you think it will be?” In spite of himself, O’Rorke threw into his question that amount of eagerness that showed how much interest he felt in the-matter. Ladarelle was quick enough to see this, and turned his eyes full upon him, and thus they stood for nigh half a minute, each steadfastly staring at the other. “Well! do you see anything very wonderful in my face that you look so hard at me?” asked O’Rorke.
“I do.”
“‘And what is it, if I might make so bowld?”
“I see a man who doubts how far he’ll go on the road he was paid to travel—that’s what I see!”
“And do you know why?” rejoined O’Rorke, defiantly. “Do you know why?”
“No.”
“Then I’ll tell you! It’s because the man that was to show me the way hasn’t the courage to do it! There’s the whole of it. You brought me over here, telling me one thing, and now you’re bent on another! and to-morrow, if anything cheaper turns up, you’ll be for that. Is it likely that I’d risk myself far with a man that doesn’t know his own mind, or trust his own courage?”
“I suppose I understand my own affairs best!”
“Well! that’s what I think about mine, too.”
Ladarelle took an impatient turn or two up and down the room before he spoke, and it was easy to see that he was exerting himself to the very utmost to be calm. “If this girl’s flight from Arran has served us in one way, her illness has just done us as much harm in another—I mean, of course, if she should not die—-because my venerable relation is just as much determined to marry her as ever he was. Are you attending to me?”