She smiled at his pleasantry, but she was not to be diverted from the subject which occupied her thoughts.
“But—but, Adrian, why did Lady Dunforth speak in just the way she did? And why did not his lordship call with her? It would have been the right thing to do,” and she searched his face with her clear eyes.
He told her as gently as he could then that when he went to seek his grandfather’s consent, that, knowing something regarding the circumstances of her leaving Mrs. Coolidge, he had imbibed a sudden and unjust prejudice, and had withheld his consent to their marriage.
“Did you know of this before you announced our engagement at Lady Randal’s?” she demanded, when he had finished.
“Yes, darling; and, if the whole world had opposed, it would have made no difference. I am not a slave, nor a vacillating boy, that any one should choose my bride for me; and you are the only woman I have ever seen whom I would willingly make my wife. If my grandfather would only have listened to me while I explained your position, he would never have been so unreasonable.”
“But I——” Brownie began, haughtily, but he stopped her with a kiss.
“Yes, I know, my own, that the pride of that royal race is so strong within you that you never would have wedded me had you known of this opposition; therefore, I took care that you should know nothing of it until it was too late.” Then he added, more seriously, as he saw that her face was still overcast: “But, my darling, what is birth or caste, compared with our future happiness, even if you were not my equal, socially speaking, which I contend you are? We love each other, and have no right to make ourselves miserable over what the world might think or say. You and I are satisfied with each other, are we not?” he asked, fondly.
The look which she gave him told him that she, at least, was content with him; but, still knowing all that she did regarding Lord Dunforth, the knowledge that he was opposed to her marrying Adrian still rankled in her heart, though she forgot to consider that he could not know who she was, or that she had any connection with his former love.
“But, Adrian,” she said, some time after, and when he had supposed the matter dropped entirely, “Lord Dunforth need not have been so very particular, for he himself was once betrothed to auntie, and would have married her if——”
It was now the young husband’s turn to look surprised and puzzled, and he interrupted her in astonished tones: