“I don’t know what she is wicked enough to do, but I do know that that is what terrifies poor Dolph so. As for that doctor of hers, Dolph is thrown into a quake whenever he thinks about him. Why, she even sets his servants to spy on him! He told me so himself, and how they tell her all he does, and where he goes!”
“You shock me very much!” he said. “I had not believed it to have been possible. But to be eloping in this fashion, and to expect me to abet him in conduct which is quite improper—”
“I see what it is!” she interrupted, a sparkle in her eye. “You are afraid to do it! You are afraid of your aunt, and of what people may say! I think it very poor-spirited of you, Hugh, but I am very sure it is not in your power to refuse to marry two persons, when there is no—no impediment!”
He said, flushing a little: “There is no occasion for you to speak with such unbecoming heat. I am certainly not afraid to do what I conceive to be my duty. But in this instance there are considerations of family involved, which—”
“If Freddy does not regard such considerations, I am sure you need not!” she interrupted.
He looked rather taken aback. “Does Freddy, then, know of this affair?”
“Yes, indeed he does!”
“I can only say that I am surprised. However, I cannot allow Freddy to be a guide to my conduct.”
She was stung by his tone of superiority into retorting: “I do not know why you should not, for he is a Standen, after all!”
At this moment, Miss Plymstock touched Kitty’s arm. “Beg pardon, but I’ll be glad to know what you have decided,” she said. Sinking her voice, she added: “It won’t do to be keeping Foster in suspense, for he’s had a very exciting day, which ain’t good for him.” She glanced from Hugh’s rigid countenance to Kitty’s angry one. “I collect you don’t mean to oblige us, sir,” she said. “Well, if you won’t you won’t, but I’ll tell you to your head I’ll not let Foster go back to be driven crazy by his mother. If I’m driven to it—though I own it ain’t what I like, partly because I was reared to be respectable, and partly because it don’t put me in a strong position when it comes to dealing with her ladyship—I’ll take Foster away, and live with him as his mistress until I can find a parson that will marry us.”