“My marriage hour has struck! My husband waits me now! Oh, madam, do you then believe me base in soul as in birth?” exclaimed the miserable girl, with bitterness.
“In the name of Heaven, what mean you?”
“Do you think that I, stripped of all other possessions, will carry my dower of shame to my husband’s home?”
“In the name of mercy, what do you mean?” asked Alice, in alarm.
“Oh, merely this, that this marriage must not and shall not proceed! Oh, no! Dr. Hutton must never blush for his wife’s parentage!”
Mrs. Garnet glanced at Elsie in despair. Elsie here interposed her blooming face and hopeful voice, saying:
“Miss Seabright, as I told you before, I have no grand sentiments, but I have some good sense, and it seems to me, as it takes two to make an engagement, it takes two to break it, honestly; I think, as you have plighted your troth to Hugh Hutton, you might consult him before breaking faith with him, for such a cause, at the very last moment.”
“Consult him!” said the poor girl, as the blood crimsoned her ashen brow. “How can I consult him? And if I could, I know his self-immolating generosity. I know, besides, that he loves me so, he would hold me to my word; he loves me so, he would take the shame with me. Consult him! No, no! for many reasons. But without consulting him, I will break with him; since in breaking faith I shall wrong him less than in keeping it!”
“Ah, Miss Seabright, that is sophistry! And sophistry is ingenious, but it deceives no one. Duty is very simple, and it never can be mistaken. But I hear the bridegroom and his friends approaching the door. Come, rise! let me re-arrange your hair and wreath.”
Mrs. Garnet opened the door, and admitted Dr. Hardcastle and Hugh Hutton. Dr. Hardcastle went up to his wife, who drew him off to a distant window, while Hugh Hutton, seeing his bride reclining, pale and disordered, upon the sofa, hastened to her, stooped over, took her hand, and gazed anxiously upon her, inquiring: