“It must be thought of!” replied Sophy resolutely.
“No use thinking of it,” said Mr. Wychbold, shaking his head. “Betrothal puffed in all the papers weeks ago! Would have been married by now if the girl hadn’t had to put up a black ribbon. Very good match, of course — woman of quality, handsome dowry, I daresay, excellent connections!”
“Well,” said Sophy large mindedly, “if his heart is in the business, I suppose he must be permitted to have his way, but he shall not inflict her upon his family! But I do not think his heart has had anything to say in it, and as for her, she has none! There! That is cutting up a character indeed!”
Mr. Wychbold, stirred to enthusiasm, said in a confidential tone, “Know what, ma’am? Been on the Marriage Mart for two whole years! Fact! Set her cap at Maxstoke last year, but he sheared off. Odds shortened to evens, too, in the clubs, but he got clean away.” He sighed. “Charles won’t. In the Gazette, you know; poor fellow couldn’t declare off if he wanted to!”
“No,” agreed Sophy, her brow creased. “She could, however.”
“She could, but she won’t,” said Mr. Wychbold positively.
“We’ll see!” said Sophy. “At all events, I must and I will prevent her making those poor dears miserable! For that is what she does, I assure you! She is forever coming to Berkeley Square and casting everyone into the dumps! First it is my aunt, who goes to bed with a headache when she has had the creature with her for half an hour; then it is Miss Adderbury, to whom she says the horridest things in that odiously sweet voice she uses when she means to make mischief! She wonders that Miss Adderbury should not have taught the children to read Italian. She is surprised that she makes so little use of the backboard, and tells Charles that she fears little Amabel is growing to be round shouldered! Stuff! She is trying even to persuade him to take their monkey away from the children. But what is worse than all is that she sets him against poor Hubert! That I cannot forgive! She does it in such a shabby way, too! I do not know how I kept my hands from her ears yesterday, for the silly boy had on a new waistcoat — quite dreadful, but he was so proud of it — and what must she do but draw Charles’s attention to it, pretending to chaff Hubert, you know, but contriving to make it appear that he was forever buying new clothes and squandering away his allowance on fripperies!”
“What a devilish woman!” exclaimed Mr. Wychbold. “Must say I shouldn’t have expected Charles to take that kind of thing tamely! Never one to stand interference!”
“Oh, it is all done with such seeming solicitude that he doesn’t see what lies at the root of it — yet!” said Sophy.
“Very bad business,” said Mr. Wychbold. “Nothing to be done, though.”