‘Now let me tell you all,’ said Henrietta, with desperate firmness. ‘I have done this person great injustice.’
‘Hah!’ said Lord Montfort.
‘It cuts me to the heart,’ said Henrietta.
‘You have then misconceived his conduct?’ enquired Lord Montfort.
‘Utterly.’
‘It is indeed a terrible situation for you,’ said Lord Montfort; ‘for all of us,’ he added, in a lower tone.
‘No, Digby; not for all of us; not even for myself; for if you are happy I will be. But for him, yes! I will not conceal it from you, I feel for him.’
‘Your destiny is in your own hands, Henrietta.’
‘No, no, Digby; do not say so,’ exclaimed Miss Temple, very earnestly; ‘do not speak in that tone of sacrifice. There is no need of sacrifice; there shall be none. I will not, I do not falter. Be you firm. Do not desert me in this moment of trial. It is for support I speak; it is for consolation. We are bound together by ties the purest, the holiest. Who shall sever them? No! Digby, we will be happy; but I am interested in the destiny of this unhappy person. You, you can assist me in rendering it more serene; in making him, perhaps, not less happy than ourselves.’
‘I would spare no labour,’ said Lord Montfort.