“I never counted on a weak man’s friendship—I can do without his grace—Woman! Woman! The same—ever since the beginning of the world!”
Then turning to Alfred to deliver the letter into his hand, “Your brother, Major Percy, sir—I think I recollect—He was better in the West Indies.”
“I was just thinking so, my lord,” said Alfred.
“Yes—better encounter the plague than a fool.”
Lord Oldborough had never before distinctly adverted to his knowledge of his niece’s partiality for Godfrey, but his lordship now added, “Major Percy’s honourable conduct is not unknown: I trust honourable conduct never was, and never will be, lost upon me.—This to the Duke of Greenwich—and this to the marquis.—Since it was to be, I rejoice that this Captain Bellamy is the gallant.—Had it been your brother, sir—could there have been any love in the case—not, observe, that I believe in love, much less am I subject to the weakness of remorse—but a twinge might have seized my mind—I might possibly have been told that the marchioness was married against her inclination.—But I am at ease on that point—my judgment of her was right.—You will let me know, in one word, the result of your negotiation without entering into particulars—divorce, or no divorce, is all I wish to hear.”
Alfred did not know all the circumstances of the Marchioness of Twickenham’s marriage, nor the peremptory manner in which it had been insisted upon by her uncle, otherwise he would have felt still greater surprise than that which he now felt, at the stern, unbending character of the man. Possessed as Lord Oldborough was by the opinion, that he had at the time judged and acted in the best manner possible, no after-events could make him doubt the justice of his own decision, or could at all shake him in his own estimation.
Alfred soon brought his report. “In one word—no divorce, my lord.”
“That’s well—I thank you, sir.”
His lordship made no farther inquiries—not even whether there was to be a separation.
Alfred was commissioned by the Duke of Greenwich to deliver a message, which, like the messages of the gods in Homer, he delivered verbatim, and without comment: “His grace of Greenwich trusts Lord Oldborough will believe, that, notwithstanding the unfortunate circumstances, which dissolved in some degree the family connexion, it was the farthest possible from his grace’s wish or thoughts to break with Lord Oldborough, as long as private feelings, and public principles, could be rendered by any means compatible.”