Mr. Prevost gazed at him in perfect astonishment, unable to perceive where his speech would end. And as the young nobleman paused he answered: "Pray speak on, my lord. Believe me, I have the highest esteem and regard for you; your character and conduct through life have, I well know, added luster to your rank, and your noble blood has justified itself in your noble actions. What on earth can you have to say which could make me think you presumptuous for a moment?"
"Simply this, and perhaps you may think me presumptuous when I have said it," replied Lord H----. "I am going to ask you to give me something which I value very much, and which you rightly value as much at least as anything you possess. I mean your daughter. Nay, do not start and turn so pale. I know all the importance of what I ask, but I have now passed many days entirely in her society; I have gone through some difficulties and dangers with her, as you know--scenes and sensations which endear two persons to each other. I have been much in woman's society. I have known the bright and the beautiful in many lands; perhaps my expectations have been too great, my wishes too exacting, but I never met woman hitherto who touched my heart. I have now found the only one whom I can love, and I now ask her of you with a full consciousness of what it is I ask."
Mr. Prevost had remained profoundly silent, with his eyes bent down, and his cheeks, as Lord H---- had said, very pale. There was a great struggle in his heart, as there must be always in a parent's bosom in such circumstances.
"She is very young--so very young!" he murmured, speaking to himself rather than to his companion.
"I may, indeed, be somewhat too old for her," said Lord H----, thoughtfully, "but yet I trust, in heart and spirit at least, Mr. Prevost, I have still all the freshness of youth about me."
"Oh, it is not that--it is not that at all," answered Edith's father; "it is that she is so very young to take upon herself both cares and duties. True, she is no ordinary girl; and perhaps if ever anyone were fit, at so early an age, for the great responsibilities of such a state, it is Edith. Her education has been singular, unlike that of any other girl----"
He had wandered away, as was his custom, from the immediate question to collateral issues, and was no longer considering whether he should give his consent to Edith's marriage with Lord H----, but whether she was fit for the marriage state at all, and what effect the education she had received would have on her conduct as a wife.
The lover, in the meantime, habitually attaching himself and every thought to one important object, was impatient for something more definite, and he ventured to break across Mr. Prevost's spoken reverie, saying: "Our marriage would be necessarily delayed, Mr. Prevost, for some time, even if I obtained your consent. May I hope that it will be granted me if no personal objection exists toward myself?"
"None in the world!" exclaimed Mr. Prevost, eagerly. "You cannot suppose it for a moment, my dear lord. All I can say is, that I will oppose nothing which Edith calmly and deliberately thinks is for her own happiness. What does she say herself?"
"She says nothing," answered Lord H----, with a smile; "for though she cannot doubt what are my feelings toward her, she has not been put to the trial of giving any answer without your expressed approbation. May I believe, then, that I have your permission to offer her my hand?"