‘He is a very good man,’ pleaded Bella.
‘Have you really made up your mind to marry him? Do you really believe that you can live happily with him?’ asked Beatrix, earnestly.
‘Yes,’ sighed Bella, thinking of the barouche and pair, the pony carriage, the huge barrack of a house at the end of an avenue of elms, the dignity and importance that all these things would give her. ‘Yes, I have quite made up my mind, Beatrix. It will be such a good thing for my family—and I believe I can be happy.’
‘Then I will not say another word against Mr. Piper. Indeed, I will try my best to like him.’
‘He has a very good heart,’ said Bella, ‘really a noble heart.’
‘And that is of more consequence than the kind of English a man talks.’
‘And he is very intelligent,’ said Bella, anxious to make the best of her bargain. ‘You should hear him talk of Jeremy Bentham. Papa says it is quite wonderful.’
‘And what about his children, Bella? Are they nice? Do you feel that you can love them?’
Bella involuntarily made a wry face.
‘They are not very nice,’ she answered, ‘but it will be my duty to love them, and of course I shall do so.’