“That is to say,” the Duke went on, “you have now, as far as I am concerned, full liberty to assume your true style and dignity as mistress here. For more than twenty years you have sacrificed yourself for others, but the time has now come when you need do so no longer. What do you say?”
Harriet did not speak. Lady Wargrave was silent also, but a kind of stony horror was freezing her. The whole situation had become so fantastic that she felt the inadequacy of her emotions.
“You shall have a perfectly free hand,” the Duke went on. “Assume your position now, and good care shall be taken that you are amply maintained in it. What do you say, my dear?” he added gently.
Tears were melting her now, and she was unable to speak.
“Well, think it over,” said his Grace. “And be assured that whichever course you take, it will be the right one. We owe you more than we can repay. However, that is only one issue, and there is another, which is hardly less important.”
Lady Wargrave stirred again on her cushion. For a moment there was not a sound to be heard in the room.
“You see,” the Duke went on, “I’ve been giving anxious thought to—to this girl of ours. And I really don’t see, having regard to all the circumstances, why justice should any longer be denied her. No matter who the man is, he is lucky to get her. And, as I understand, they are a very devoted couple.”
“Oh, yes, they are!” The words were Harriet’s and they were uttered in a tone broken by emotion.
“Well, you shall make the decision,” he said. “You know, of course, how the matter stands.” Harriet bowed her head in assent, and his Grace turned an eye bright with malice upon the Dowager. “You see, Charlotte, this girl of ours, brought up in a very humble way, and left to fight her own battle, under the providence of the good God, absolutely declines to come among us unless she has the full and free consent of the head of the clan. So far that consent has not been given, and if in the course of the next week it is not forthcoming, the young man Dinneford threatens to return to Canada.”
“I see.” The walls of Charlotte’s world had fallen in, her deepest feelings had been outraged, but she was still perfect mistress of herself. She turned her hard eyes upon Harriet, but in them now was a look very different from the one that had been wont to regard the housekeeper.