Edward winced visibly at this outspoken statement.
“Ida,” he said, “I make one last appeal to you. I am devoted to you with all my heart; so devoted that though it may seem foolish to say so, especially before your father, I really think I would rather not have recovered from my accident than that I should have recovered for this. I will give you everything that a woman can want, and my money will make your family what it was centuries ago, the greatest in the country side. I don’t pretend to have been a saint—perhaps you may have heard something against me in that way—or to be anything out of the common. I am only an ordinary every-day man, but I am devoted to you. Think, then, before you refuse me altogether.”
“I have thought, Mr. Cossey,” answered Ida almost passionately: “I have thought until I am tired of thinking, and I do not consider it fair that you should press me like this, especially before my father.”
“Then,” he said, rising with difficulty, “I have said all I have to say, and done all that I can do. I shall still hope that you may change your mind. I shall not yet abandon hope. Good-bye.”
She touched his hand, and then the Squire offering him his arm, he went down the steps to his carriage.
“I hope, Mr. de la Molle,” he said, “that bad as things look for me, if they should take a turn I shall have your support.”
“My dear sir,” answered the Squire, “I tell you frankly that I wish my daughter would marry you. As I said before, it would for obvious reasons be desirable. But Ida is not like ordinary women. When she sets her mind upon a thing she sets it like a flint. Times may change, however, and that is all I can say. Yes, if I were you, I should remember that this is a changeable world, and women are the most changeable things in it.”
When the carriage was gone he re-entered the vestibule. Ida, who was going away much disturbed in mind, saw him come, and knew from the expression of his face that there would be trouble. With characteristic courage she turned, determined to brave it out.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE SQUIRE SPEAKS HIS MIND
For a minute or more her father fidgeted about, moving his papers backwards and forwards but saying nothing.