“You do not mean—you do not mean—— What do you mean, man?” he demanded at length.
“Let me be perfectly frank with you, Mr. Force. Nothing was further from my—from our—intention than that which has happened. We drifted into this. When I discovered that my heart was irrevocably given to your daughter, and remembered that you had other views for her than my poor alliance, I was shocked and disgusted with myself, and I would have finished my long visit here, and would have gone away to distract my sorrow in extended travel; but when, too late, I also discovered that—well, it seems strange—but there is no accounting for such occurrences.”
“In a word, what do you mean?” demanded Mr. Force, more and more disturbed.
“I mean that this attachment is reciprocal; that your lovely daughter returns my affection. Seeing that—as a man of honor, not to say a man in love—what could I do? I have made your daughter an offer of my hand, subject to your approval. She bids me say to you that her happiness is dependent on your consent to our marriage, and then to give the matter entirely in your hands, where I now place it, and leave it.”
“Good heavens, Anglesea! this is a great shock to me! a very great shock!” exclaimed Mr. Force.
“I am sorry for it—very sorry. We place ourselves absolutely at your disposal, and submit ourselves to your will. We can do no more.”
“How long has this been going on?”
“I think I must have begun to love your daughter from the first hour in which I saw her; but I think the growth of the interest was so gradual that I was not conscious of it until it was too late.”
“When you put it to me as a hypothetical case, whether, if my daughter’s happiness were involved in some other marriage, I would consent to forego my cherished plan of marrying her to her cousin, had you this case of yours and hers in view?”
“Not consciously. But we are such ‘self-deceivers ever’ that I may have had this at the bottom of my heart.”