Elsie suddenly clasped her hands, and bent forward with flushed cheeks and open lips.
Dr. Hardcastle continued his fixed, broad stare, until Hugh exclaimed:
“God bless all our souls, Magnus Hardcastle, you are not the only noble specimen of God’s workmanship on earth. There are others capable of magnanimity besides Magnus—even the young girl, Garnet Seabright!”
“Garnet! She is a diamond of the first water. Is it possible that this should be so? I can scarcely credit the testimony of my eyes and ears! That Miss Seabright, as soon as she reached her majority, should have given up her estate. Oh! it must have been a mere impulse of youthful enthusiasm. She could not have known the value of money and property—and, besides, you must have used great powers of persuasion with her.”
“No—you are wrong in every point. It was not enthusiasm. All her enthusiasm was enlisted on the other side, in favor of social distinction, for which she considered wealth indispensable. Nor was she ignorant of the value of money. No, enlightened by experiences in the extremes of, first poverty and afterward wealth, this girl of twenty-one had as accurate a knowledge of the value of money and property as any miser, beggar, or banker of forty-two. Nor was it without a struggle she resigned the estate. Most terrible indeed was the battle in her soul before Justice subdued Ambition. Nor was it through my persuasion that she made this glorious sacrifice to right. No; no mere words of mine could have subdued that towering pride, governed that aspiring ambition. No; I simply set the truth before her, and then let it work its way. No; I set the truth before her, and then I might have gone to Patagonia or Bering Strait, and the result would have been the same. She would never have known an hour’s peace until she had restored the property, at whatever sacrifice to her pride and ambition.”
Here Elsie broke forth, exclaiming:
“Oh! what a noble girl! Oh! I love and admire her so much. I do think if I were in mother’s place now I should be Quixotic enough to convey the whole estate back again to her. At least, I know I would make her take back half of it. My heart burns toward that noble girl, and I feel half ashamed that we should benefit by her magnanimity. I feel as if by her giving and our receiving so much that she is more noble than we are.”
“Yes, yes! She is indeed a noble, a wonderful girl!” exclaimed Dr. Hardcastle.
“And this noble, this wonderful girl,” said Hugh, with his cheeks and eyes kindling with pride and joy—“this glorious girl is going to be my wife! Congratulate me, dear friends!” he suddenly exclaimed, impulsively thrusting out a hand to each.
“Going to be your wife? I am so glad,” exclaimed Elsie, pressing his left hand.