"What I say is this," interrupted Albert Fanning. "Westenra must do as she pleases. If she likes to come with us to Switzerland we shall be, I need not say, charmed; but if she prefers to stay with her ladyship"—here he gave a profound bow in the direction of Lady Thesiger—"we must submit. It is not in the bond, you know, mother, and anything outside the bond I for one debar."
"You always were so queer, my son Albert," said Mrs. Fanning, who had lost her shyness, and now was determined to speak out her mind fully.
"It's this way, your ladyship," she continued, turning to Lady Thesiger. "I may as well be plain, and I may as well out with the truth. This pretty young girl, this dear girl, belongs to us. She does not belong to you—she belongs to us."
"No, no, mother; you are wrong there," cried Mr. Fanning; "she does not belong to us at present."
"It's all the same," said Mrs. Fanning; "don't talk nonsense to me. When a girl is engaged to a man—"
"Engaged! Good heavens!" I heard Lady Thesiger mutter, and then she sat very still, and fixed her eyes for a moment on my face, with a sort of glance which seemed to say, "Are you quite absolutely mad?"
"Yes, engaged," continued Mrs. Fanning. "It is a very queer engagement, it seems to me, but it is a bonâ fide one for all that."
"As bonâ fide," said Mr. Fanning, with a profound sigh, "as there is a sky in the heavens. As bonâ fide as there is a day and a night; as bonâ fide as that I am in existence; but the marriage is not to be consummated until the 1st of June of next year. That is in the bond, and we have nothing to complain of if—if Westenra"—here his voice dropped to a sound of absolute tenderness—"if Westenra would rather not come with us now."
"Please explain," said Lady Thesiger. "I knew nothing of this. Do you mean to tell me, madam, that my friend Westenra Wickham is engaged to—to whom?"
"To my son Albert," said Mrs. Fanning, with great emphasis and with quite as much pride as Lady Thesiger's own.