"Yes," Belle answers bitterly, "such a child as Kate Dundas! I knew from the first how it would end, dear. The woman means to marry him, and she will do it."
Honor sighs. It is dreadful to think of handsome Launce, with his brilliant prospects, being sacrificed to this woman, ten years older than he is, and the widow of a very "shady" major of dragoons.
"It is not as if he loved her!" says Belle, almost with a sob. "He does not love her. It's all a 'bewitchment,' as old Aileen would say; and, when she has got him, he'll be miserable."
"But we mustn't let her get him, dear; we must stop it, you and I."
"Then I'm sure I don't see how we are to manage it," Belle sighs.
Neither does Honor, but she is not going to admit that.
Twilight is setting in when Belle gets up to go home.
"Oh, dear, why have I stayed so long?" she says, with a little nervous sigh. "It will be almost dark before I get out on the road."
"And what about me here alone all the day—and I shall be alone for hours yet! The pater has gone down to the Low Acres, and the boys are shooting Colonel Frenche's covers. They can't be home till dark."
"I don't know how you live, and that's the truth, Honor. We often say so at home. I should go mad, I know I should."