“There are few so humble, sir, as not to have opinions of more consequence than mine.”
“Ay, but it's yours I want,—yours, that I 'd rather have than the king's on his throne. 'T is in that hope I 've come many a weary mile far away from my home, maybe never to see it again! and all that I may have your forgiveness, my Lady, and not only your forgiveness, but your approbation.”
“If you set store by any sentiments of mine, sir, I warn you not to ask more than I have iu my power to bestow. I can forgive, I have forgiven, much; but ask me not to concur in acts which have robbed me of the companionship of my husband and my son.”
“Wait a bit; don't be too hard, my Lady; I 'm on the verge of the grave, a little more, and the dark sleep that never breaks will be on me, and if in this troubled hour I take a wrong word, or say a thing too strong,—forgive me for it. My thoughts are often before me, on the long journey I'm so soon to go.”
“It were far better, Dr. Hickman, that we should speak of something less likely to be painful to us both, and if that cannot be, that you should rest satisfied with knowing that however many are the sources of sorrow an humble fortune has opened to us, the disposition to bear malice is not among their number.”
“You forgive me, then, my Lady,—you forgive me all?”
“If your own conscience can only do so as freely as I do, believe me, sir, your heart will be tranquil.”
The old man pressed his hands to his face, and appeared overcome by emotion. A dead silence ensued, which at length was broken by old Hickman muttering broken words to himself, at first indistinctly, and then more clearly.
“Yes, yes,—I made—the offer—I begged—I supplicated. I did all—all. But no, they refused me! There was no other way of restoring them to their own house and home—but they would n't accept it. I would have settled the whole estate—free of debt—every charge paid off, upon them. There 's not a peer in the land could say he was at the head of such a property.”
“I must beg, sir, that I may be spared the unpleasantness of overhearing what I doubt is only intended for your own reflection; and if you will permit me, to take my leave—”