Horatia put up her chin, “I s-spoke to him about the S-stammer, and he said he l-liked it!”
Elizabeth rose up from her chair and clasped Horatia in her arms. “Oh, why should he not? Dearest, dearest, never could I permit you to sacrifice yourself for me!”
Horatia suffered the embrace. “Well, to tell you the truth, Lizzie, I would like to m-marry him. But I c-can’t help wondering whether you are quite sure you d-don’t want to?” She searched her sister’s face. “Do-do you really like Edward better?”
“Oh, my love!”
“Well, I c-can’t understand it,” said Horatia.
“It is not to be supposed,” stated Charlotte flatly, “that Lord Rule was in earnest. Depend upon it, he thinks Horry a Mere Child.”
“N-no, he does not!” said Horatia, firing up. “He w-was in earnest, and he is c-coming to tell M-mama at three this afternoon.”
“I beg that no one will expect me to face Lord Rule!” said Lady Winwood. “I am ready to sink into the ground!”
“Will he come?” demanded Charlotte. “What irremediable harm may not Horry’s impropriety have wrought? We must ask ourselves, will Lord Rule desire to ally himself with a Family one of whose members has shown herself so dead to all feelings of Modesty and Female Reserve?”
“Charlotte, you shall not say that!” said Elizabeth with unwonted stringency. “What should he think but that our dearest is but an impulsive child?”