‘Come,’ said Miss Lang, as if talking to a naughty girl, ‘if you are overcome like that, you had better come away.’
Wherewith authoritative habits made it possible to her to get Mrs. Morton out of the room; while Mary, well used to self-restraint, was struggling with choking tears, but when warm-hearted Lady Kenton drew her close and kissed her, they began to flow uncontrollably, so that she could only gasp, ‘Oh, I beg your pardon, my lady!’
‘Never mind,’ was the answer; ‘I don’t wonder! There’s no word for that language but brutal.’
‘Oh, don’t,’ was Mary’s cry. ‘She is his, Lord Northmoor’s sister-in-law, and he has done everything for her ever since his brother’s death.’
‘That is no reason she should speak to you in
that way. I must ask you to excuse me, but we could not help hearing, she was so loud, and then I felt impelled to break in.’
‘It was very very kind! But oh, I wish I knew whether she is not in the right after all!’
‘I am sure Lord Northmoor is deeply attached—quite in earnest,’ said Lady Kenton, feeling rather as if she was taking a liberty.
‘Yes, I know it would grieve him most dreadfully, if it came to an end now, dear fellow. I know it would break my heart, too, but never mind that, I would go away, out of his reach, and he might get over it. Would it not be better than his being always ashamed of an inferior, incompetent creature, always dragging after him?’
‘I do not think you can be either, after what my daughter and Miss Lang have told me.’