'Married my governess—the girl MacIan!' snorted my Lady Drumshoddy when she heard of the dreadful mésalliance. 'Why marry the creature? He might love her, of course—all men are alike weak—but to marry her—oh, no!'
And my Lady Drumshoddy was a very moral woman according to her standard, and carried her head very high.
When tidings were bruited abroad of what happened, and the split in the family circle at Craigengowan, there were equal sorrow and indignation expressed in the servants' hall, the gamekeepers' lodges, and the home farm, for joyous and boyish Captain Melfort was a favourite with all on the Fettercairn estates; and Mrs. Prim, his mother's maid, actually shed many tears over the untoward fate he had brought upon himself.
CHAPTER II.
WEDDED.
'And you will love me still, Flora, in spite of this bitter affront to which you are subjected for my sake?' said Lennard.
'Yes,' said the girl passionately, 'I love you, Lennard—love you so much,' she added, while her soft voice broke and her blossom-like lips quivered, 'that were I to lose you I would die!'
'My darling, you cannot lose me now,' he responded, while tenderly caressing her.
'Are we foolish to talk in this fashion, Lennard?'
'Foolish?'