"Pray don't say that."
"Forgive me. I can't help saying it, I feel it so bitterly. Now, dear, I will walk a little way with you, and tell you what I want you to do this very day; and you will be a darling, as you always are, and consent."
Then Mary told how Mr. Hope had just shown her singular affection; next she reminded him of the high tone Mr. Hope had taken with her father in their hearing. "Why," said she, "there is some mysterious compact about me between papa and him. I don't think I shall ever have the courage to ask him about that compact, for then I must confess that I listened; but it is clear we can depend upon Mr. Hope, and trust him. So now, dear, I want you to indulge your little wife, and let me take Mr. Hope into our confidence."
To Mary's surprise and disappointment, Walter's countenance fell.
"I don't know," said he, after a pause. "Unfortunately it's not Mr.
Bartley only that's against us."
"Well, but, dear," said Mary, "the more people there are against us, the more we need one powerful friend and champion. Now you know Mr. Hope is a man that everybody loves and respects, even your father."
Walter just said, gloomily, "I see objections, for all that; but do as you please."
Mary's tender heart and loving nature couldn't accept an unwilling assent. She turned her eyes on Walter a little reproachfully. "That's the way to make me do what you please."
"I don't intend it so," said Walter. "When a husband and wife love each other as we do, they must give in to each other."
"That's not what we said at the altar."