‘Oh, yes, yes, very clever,’ said the old man; ‘but now we come to the most important matter—’
‘The settlements? Oh, yes! I hope I shall be able to satisfy you thoroughly with respect to them.’
‘No, Lord Ilfracombe, not the settlements, though, of course, they are necessary; but, in my eyes, quite a minor consideration. My daughter, Nora, is—well, to be frank with you, she is not my favourite daughter. Perhaps it is our own fault (for the poor child has been left a great deal to herself), but she is more heedless, less reliable—how shall I put it? Let me say, more headstrong and inclined to have her own way than her sisters. It will require a strong man, and a sensible man, to guide her through life; ay, more than these, a good man. The position you offer her is a very brilliant one, and I should be proud to see her fill it; but, before I give my consent to her marrying you, I must be assured that the example you set her will be such as to raise instead of debase her.’
‘I do not understand what you mean,’ replied the young man, with a puzzled air. ‘How can you possibly suspect me of setting my wife a bad example?’
‘Not practically, perhaps, but theoretically, Lord Ilfracombe. Forgive me, if I touch upon a delicate subject; but, in the interests of my daughter, I must lay aside all false scruples. I have heard something of your domestic life in England, from the men who have come over here, and I must ascertain for certain that everything of that kind will be put a stop to before you marry Nora.’
Lord Ilfracombe reddened with shame.
‘Of course, of course,’ he said, after a pause. ‘How can you doubt it?’
‘I am aware,’ continued the admiral, ‘that men of the present day think little of such matters—that they believe all that goes on before marriage is of no consequence to anyone but themselves. But it is not so. Some years back, perhaps, our women were kept in such ignorance of the ways of the world, that they only believed what their husbands chose to tell them. Now it is very different. Their eyes seem to have been opened, and they see for themselves, and act for themselves. I am often astonished at the insight given to me by my own daughters to female nature. Where they have learned it in this quiet, little place, I cannot imagine. It seems to me as if they were born wide-awake. And Nora is especially so. She is ready to be anything you choose to make her. And if she found out that you had deceived her, I would not answer for the consequences.’
‘You may rely on my word, sir, that, in the future, I will never deceive her. With regard to the past, I should like to make a clean breast to you, in order that hereafter you may not be able to say I have kept anything back. Others may also have represented my life as worse than it has been, and, as my future father-in-law, I should wish you to think the best of me. Some three years ago, I fell in with a very beautiful young woman, in a humble station of life, whom I took into my household as housekeeper. After a while—there was nothing coarse or vulgar about her, and her beauty was something extraordinary—I succumbed to the temptation of seeing her constantly before my eyes, and raised her to the position of my mistress.’
‘I beg your pardon, Lord Ilfracombe,’ said the admiral, looking up.