"So I believe," said the earl. "It is about that I wish to speak to you. You will see Earle on your return; tell him from me that the change in my daughter's position need make none in her engagement to him; tell him, from me, that as far as my consent can ratify and approve it, I most freely give that consent. Tell him also that I will do my best to push his fortune."
Mrs. Brace looked at him with grateful approval.
"My lord," she said, in her simple fashion, "they speak truthfully when they call you a noble man."
Lady Doris, proud of her name, her fortune, her position, did not feel quite so pleased when she heard this. It had been all very well when she was Doris Brace—it had been all very well in Florence, when Earle had become tiresome, she had been compelled to repeat her promise of marriage, and pledge herself to him over and over again; but there had been a faint hope in her mind that when she was once with her father, under the shelter of his roof, he would never allow her to fulfill the engagement. She never dreamed that he would chivalrously exact its fulfillment. Still, she was wise enough to be silent, and not say what was in her mind. She had learned that great lesson women so often fail in—when to be silent and when to speak.
When they were once more alone, Mrs. Brace expressed her great sense of the earl's kindness and real goodness. She thought it so noble of him that he should wish the engagement to continue.
"It would break Earle's heart to lose you," she said. "When you went away—abroad, I mean—I thought he would have died."
Lady Doris raised her head with the lofty air natural to her.
"You do not understand," she said. "The earl could not break his word, or persuade another person to break a promise. Noblesse oblige!"
"Ah, my dear," said the kindly woman, "you are far ahead of me—I never did quite understand you—you are clever and learned; you have speech of your own that I cannot follow: but however great or grand you may be, you will never find any one to love you so truly as Earle does."
"I am sure of that," she replied, then turned hastily away. She was growing tired of hearing of nothing but Earle. Surely they were all in a conspiracy, all plotting for Earle. Yet, despite her impatience, she owned to herself that all the love she had to give away was given to him.