“Without again quarrelling,” interrupted her mother, “let me assure you that I cannot—cannot possibly consent to this deviation from our original arrangements. It was an express understanding between us that marriage was, in every case, to be out of the question——”
“And may not circumstances transpire to change original plans?” demanded Perdita, beginning to divine the reasons of her mother’s uncompromising opposition to her matrimonial scheme.
“A truce to these arguments!” cried Mrs. Fitzhardinge, again growing irritable. “Remember that this evening your love-sick swain will deposit in my hands all the papers containing the evidence of his father’s right to the earldom and estates of Ellingham——”
“And you will use your power to coerce me?” said Perdita, in her quiet way, which nevertheless seemed to breathe defiance.
“I do not affirm that, my child,” cried the old woman, smothering her rage. “But I would ask you of what use those papers would be without my assistance to raise money on them?”
“Of no more utility than our acquaintance with Charles would be to you, were it not for me,” returned Perdita. “And now, mother, I may as well inform you at once that I can penetrate into all the motives which prompt you thus to oppose my marriage views with respect to Charles. You imagine that if I become his mistress only, I shall be so completely in your power that I must still continue your slave,—that a word from you relative to my past life would send away Charles Hatfield in disgust,—and that in order to prevent you from speaking that word, I shall obey you blindly. In fine, you hope to exercise a despotism alike over him and me,—dispose of the purse—and control the household with sovereign sway. On the other hand, you imagine,—nay, do not look so black, my dear mother—we are only telling each other a few agreeable truths——”
“Go on, vile girl!” gasped Mrs. Fitzhardinge, trembling—suffocating with rage.
“On the other hand, then,” pursued the young woman, in a placid, unexcited manner,—“on the other hand you suppose that if once I become the wife of Charles Hatfield—if once he shall have taken me for better or worse—if once the indissoluble knot be tied, your power over me would cease. For were you to avenge any slight by making revelations respecting me, I might lose my husband’s esteem and love, but should not the less remain his wife. You therefore dread lest you should become a cypher—dependant upon us for your daily bread—unable to control the purse and the domestic economy——”
“And what will you do to guarantee that all you are now saying is not a predictive sketch of what you know must happen in case I permit your marriage?” demanded Mrs. Fitzhardinge, dismayed by this accurate reading of her heart’s secrets on the part of her daughter.
“I can only assure you this much, mother,” was the answer,—“that if you conduct yourself well towards me, I shall act well towards you,—that you shall have your own way in every thing where my will is not violently thwarted,—and that I will co-operate with you cheerfully for our mutual interests, so long as you do not attempt to drive me as a slave.”