‘I thought it was Juliana who pressed it!’
‘Have you not learnt that whatever he dislikes she forwards?’
‘Oh! Robert, you can hinder that scheme from ever being thought of again!’
‘Yes,’ said Robert; ‘there she should never have been, even had you not made resistance.’
‘And, Robert, may we stay here?’ asked Phœbe, trembling.
‘Crabbe sees no objection,’ he answered.
‘Do you, Robert? If you think we ought not, I will try to change; but Mervyn is kind, and it is home! I saw you thought me wrong, but I could not help being glad he relented to Maria.’
‘You were right. Your eldest brother is the right person to give you a home. I cannot. It would have shown an evil, suspicious temper if you had refused him.’
‘Yet you do not like it.’
‘Perhaps I am unjust. I own that I had imagined you all happier and better in such a home as Mrs. Parsons or Miss Charlecote could find for you; and though Mervyn would scarcely wilfully take advantage of your innocence, I do not trust to his always knowing what would be hurtful to you or Bertha. It is a charge that I grudge to him, for I do not think he perceives what it is.’