“It was spoken of often by Mrs. Coolidge and her daughter.”
“And do you deem yourself unworthy to be my wife on account of your poverty?”
“No!” and the bright head was lifted proudly now, the lovely eyes glowed with a fire which told that, despite her lack of wealth and position, she considered herself the equal of the proudest in the land.
“What then? Suppose you and I were suddenly to change places, would you deem me to be unworthy to be your husband because I had lost my wealth?”
“No! I should be proud——”
He stopped her lips with tender kisses.
“And I, my darling, should be proud to call you my wife were you the lowliest-born in all England. But you are not; you are my equal in birth and station, and it is only an accident which has placed you where any one is liable to be. A man often misses his expectations, and I am only plain Adrian Dredmond as yet; surely you are not afraid of me, if you are of those whom you choose to term my high-born kinsmen.”
Brownie nestled closer to him as she replied, with dignity:
“I am afraid of no one, yet one naturally shrinks from bringing contempt upon one whom one loves, and you know the ways of the world, Adrian.”
“You never can bring contempt upon me. The world may say what it pleases—and I warn you it will not dare say very much, and since I am of age, and capable of choosing my own wife, I think we will call no one else into the consultation,” he said, decisively.