“Col. Anglesea has offered you his hand. Is it not so?”
“Yes, mamma.”
“Col. Anglesea is a gentleman of the highest social position. I congratulate you, my darling.”
“But, mother! mother!” Odalite exclaimed in alarm. “I have declined Col. Anglesea’s offer!”
“Have you, my dear? Then you acted very hastily and inconsiderately. You will think better of it and accept it,” said the lady, very gravely.
“Oh, no, no, mamma! Never! never! How could I think of doing such a thing, when I am on the very eve of marriage with Le?”
“My daughter, you were too hasty in that matter also. That childish engagement—which was no binding one, after all—need not and must not prevent your forming a more desirable union with Col. Anglesea,” urged the lady, almost in the very words used by the colonel himself when pressing his suit with Odalite.
“Oh, mother! mother! surely you do not advocate——Oh, mother! mother! Spare me! Do not urge me into such a dreadful act!” exclaimed the girl, starting up in a wild excitement.
“Sit down and calm yourself, my dear child, and listen to me.”
Odalite threw herself on the sofa, and buried her face in its cushions.