“Pray, are you aware that the Duke never offers a second living to a man who has refused one?”
“I should not expect it.”
“And you do not care! It is nothing to you that—”
So far Fanny’s words rushed, then she suddenly stopped and crimsoned. He drew a hard breath, and was silent, and with him silence said more than speech. She interpreted it as a declaration that he knew what he was renouncing.
After what seemed to her a long time she forced herself to say—
“Have you absolutely decided?”
“I could do nothing else. You—you disapprove?”
“I? It concerns yourself only.”
“Yes—of course!”
He sighed and stood up. Lady Fanny’s foot impatiently patted the carpet. She turned her head away, and remarked that he had probably consulted his friends before making a wreck of his prospects.