"That I do not believe, asking your pardon, madam," said I; "but since you will push me to the wall, I must needs say that if there were not another man in the world, I would never marry Lord Bulmer."
"But you shall marry him!" said Sir Julius, and he added,—
"Lucy—I will not repeat his words."
"What do you expect, Sir Julius, when you allow your daughter such a companion?" said my lady. "That insolent girl, Lucy Corbet, abets her in her rebellion, and your own sister acts as a go-between."
"We shall soon settle that by giving Lucy Corbet business enough of her own to attend to," answered Sir Julius, and then he bade me go to my room and not leave it till I was prepared to do my father's will.
"So here I am a prisoner, and if I may but have you for my jailer, I do not care for how long."
"I am glad you were firm," said I, "though it is a cruel necessity which makes a young girl stand out against her father."
"It is not my father but his wife," answered Amabel. "Only for her, I believe he would never have turned against Walter. Oh Lucy, how could he marry such a woman? And what is the strange power which Lord Bulmer has over her?"
"Perhaps she wished to marry him herself and could not succeed," said I. "I believe that what Wilson told me is true, and that she is under his thumb. But what means your father's remark about me?"
"Perhaps he has a match prepared for you, also," answered Amabel. "I have had my suspicions of that. Captain Dangerfield."