"Certainly not," replied she decisively, "I do not think I am likely to go there at all. Sir William and Lady Gordon have taken a house in the neighbourhood of his own property, and if I visit them, it will be there."
"Then where will be your home?"
"At Burton, with Miss Bridge, for the present I believe."
"I trust you, with your talents and accomplishments, your taste and your sensibility, are not doomed to pass your life as the companion of an elderly lady, buried in an obscure country village, unknown and unadmired."
"There might be many worse positions in life, more disagreeable companions, and more trying situations, Mr. Morgan," replied Emma with warmth.
"Forgive me if my interest for you has led me to express my feelings in an unauthorised way. I cannot entirely forget the past, nor consign to oblivion all that I once flatter myself was felt between us."
She could not exactly tell what to answer him, for she really hardly knew what construction to place upon his words. He paused for a moment and then resumed.
"Rumour was wrong then, when it asserted that there were ties in contemplation, which would bind you closely to Osborne Castle—that, in short, the young lord, doing justice to the merits which would grace a higher rank, had sought to make you his wife."
"I am not engaged to Lord Osborne, if that is what you mean," said Emma calmly.
"I had thought it strange indeed if a young man so unformed, so bearish, so almost brutal, had known how to value, much more to win, a jewel so bright and excellent."