“Dear lady, you are worthy only of words that will give you pleasure; that is why I am silent now,” he said.
“You have but to say one word to give me the greatest pleasure that I look for in this world, and I know that you will say it, Dick—my Dick.”
“Alas—alas!” he said.
“That is not the word, Dick; you know that that is not the word I want you to speak.”
“That is the word which we should both say, my dear, if I were even to breathe the word which you ask of me. Oh, you must surely see that it would be impossible for me to forsake all that my father has entrusted me with. My sisters are young. What sort of brother should I be were I to leave them alone at a moment’s notice? No, no! you will not ask me to do it; you have always shown yourself to be full of sensibility. You would hate me if I were to desert my sisters at such a time as this.”
She looked at him straight in the eyes for a long time—it was a searching, suspicious gaze. Then she gave a laugh—a scornful, suspicious laugh. Her scorn was not intolerable; it was tempered by the half-amused smile that flashed about the corners of her lips.
“It must be pleasant to have so strong a sense of duty, Dick,” she said,—“yes, very pleasant, when your duty and your inclination go hand in hand; nay, perhaps their relationship is closer still. Inclination puts an arm round the waist of duty, and so they go dancing down the green mead—Oberon and Titania—only without a chance quarrel. But it appears to me that if Betsy Linley were not in Bath your duty to your sisters would somewhat relax. Listen to me, Dick. You are not so near a holiday as you have been led to believe, for, by the Lord Harry, if you refuse to come with me to London I shall remain at Bath, if only to frustrate your plans. Ay, sir, I know more about your plans than you may perhaps think.”
“If you know anything of them whatsoever, your knowledge is wider than mine,” said he.
“Oh, go away—take yourself off. I am beginning to tire of you, Dick Sheridan,” she said, leaning back in an attitude of negligent ennui between the sympathetic arms of her sofa.
“I do not need to be told to go a second time, madam,” said Dick.