“A proposal to make to me?” repeated Mary.
“Yes, ma’am. Earlier this evening I informed you that if it lay within my power to serve you I should count myself honoured.”
“Oh, have you found a way of escape for me?” Mary said eagerly. “Is that what you mean? I would welcome any way!”
“I am glad to hear you say as much, ma’am, for I fear that what I have to propose to you will take you by surprise, and even, perhaps, be repugnant to you.” He paused, and she noticed how hard his eyes were. “Miss Challoner, in touching upon the extreme delicacy of your situation I do not desire, believe me, to offend you. But your story is known to me; you yourself have divulged as much to me as my Lord Vidal. Your plight is desperate indeed, and while I can readily understand your reluctance to wed his lordship, I am bound to hold with him that nothing save marriage can extricate you from a predicament that must necessarily blacken — though unjustly — your fair name. Madam, I humbly beg to offer you my hand in marriage.”
Miss Challoner, who had listened to this amazing speech with an expression of frank bewilderment on her face, recoiled. “Good gracious, sir, have you gone mad?” she cried.
“No, ma’am. Mad I have been for the past weeks, but I am now in the fullest possession of my faculties.”
Her suspicion that he had been drinking gave place to a more exact comprehension of the true state of affairs. “But, Mr. Comyn, you are plighted to Juliana Marling,” she said.
He replied very bitterly: “I am happy to be able to inform you, ma’am, that Miss Marling and I have cut the knot of what each of us has been brought to regard as our entanglement.”
“Oh!” said Mary in distress. “Have you quarrelled with Juliana, then? Dear sir, I do not know what has passed between you, but if Juliana is to blame she will be sorry soon enough. Go back to her, Mr. Comyn, and you will see that I am right”
“You mistake, ma’am,” he replied curtly. “I have not the smallest desire to return to Miss Marling. Pray do not imagine that I am come to you in a fit of pique. I have for a week past realized the unwisdom of our betrothal. Miss Marling’s conduct is not what I wish for in my wife, and her decision to release me from my obligations I can only regard as the greatest favour she has ever bestowed upon me.”