"I am very glad to hear it, Japhet, and will not fail to communicate all this to your father; but there is no reason why I may not do as I please with my own money—and I love that girl dearly. By-the-bye, have you ever said anything to her?"
"O yes, sir, we are pledged to each other."
"That's all right; I thought so, when I saw your fingers hooked together in the carriage. But now, Japhet, I should recommend a little indifference—not exactly opposition, when your father proposes the subject to you. It will make him more anxious, and when you consent more obliged to you. I have promised to call upon him to-morrow, on that and other business, and you had better be out of the way."
"I shall be out of the way, sir; I mean to go with Harcourt to Lady de Clare's. I shall ask for the carriage."
"He will certainly lend it to you, as he wishes to get rid of you; but here we are. God bless you, my boy."
Chapter LXXVIII
The Bengal tiger taken in the toils, which promise a speedy end to mine—I kindly permit my father to insist upon the marriage that I have set my heart upon.
I found my father, who had now completely recovered from his accident, walking up and down the room in a brown study. He did not speak to me until after dinner, when he commenced with asking some questions relative to Cecilia de Clare. I replied, "that I intended, if he did not want the carriage, to call there to-morrow with Mr Harcourt."
"Is she very handsome?" inquired he.