“I have considered that, ma’am, and if you should not like to return for a space to your own relatives I think it would be an excellent scheme for you to go on a visit to my sister, Lady Hartlepool. You will like her, I fancy. She has a sweetness of disposition which must always please. I do not suggest that you should go to Lady Flint, for she is expecting to be confined. And my sister Augusta is forever racketing about town in a way that would hardly be proper for you during the period of your mourning. My sister Elizabeth will be visiting me shortly, and if I may do so I will bring her to make your acquaintance.”
“But—but does Lady Hartlepool require a governess?” asked Elinor.
“Oh, no! Her children are all still in the nursery.”
“Then—My lord, I do not know what scheme you may have in your head, but—”
“I hope you will think better of this determination to seek another post as governess.”
“Well, I shall not, I assure you, sir! I told you once before that I would not become your pensioner, and I beg of you to believe that I meant it!”
“I hope that you will become my wife,” he replied, with all his usual calm.
She was stricken to silence and was aware of nothing but the hammering of her heart in her chest.
He continued after a moment, “I should not be making such a declaration to you yet, but I think my sentiments cannot be unknown to you.”
“Quite—quite unknown, my lord!” she said in a voice which did not seem to be her own.