Beauchamp had had a second thought about the expediency of quarrelling with his sister. So, though her accusation annoyed him, as he felt she had some grounds for making it, he kept down his vexation and answered quietly—
“I am sorry to have appeared so to you. As regards Roma, I own that I quite see now that that was a mistake from the beginning; the less said about it the better.
“As regards my present engagement—” he hesitated. “No, Gertrude, I don’t expect you as yet to approve of it, but I hope you may do so in time. Wait till you see Eugenia.”
“Seeing her cannot possibly alter the fact of your imprudence, though it may explain it,” answered Mrs Eyrecourt, coldly. “Remember all I wrote to you. Oh, Beauchamp, do think what you are about! Even for her sake you should do so. You are not the sort of man to make the best of an unsuitable marriage when the time comes for you to awake to its being so.”
“I am perfectly awake already to everything that can be said about it,” replied Captain Chancellor, a little sullenly. “The long and the short of it is that she isn’t rich; that is the only ‘unsuitableness’ you can possibly suspect.”
“Not the only one, though of course it is an important one,” said Gertrude. “You have rushed into this so rashly that I have every reason to suspect the whole affair. She is young and pretty; that is about all you can bring forward.”
“We shall have enough to live on. You need not be afraid I intend to make any of my friends suffer for my imprudence,” answered Beauchamp, hastily. They were approaching very near the edge of a quarrel now.
“Then you allow it is imprudent?” exclaimed Gertrude, quickly. But Beauchamp saw his mistake and changed his tone.
“Yes,” he said, “yes, in one sense I suppose I do. But, prudent or imprudent, Gertrude, it is done, absolutely and irrevocably. I have a great deal to thank you for in the past, and I shall be very sorry if my marriage causes any coldness between us. I shall thank you very much if you will be kind to my wife—she will have a good deal to learn and will appreciate kindness. But you must decide how things are to be between us.”
“Oh, of course I don’t mean to quarrel with you, Beauchamp,” answered Mrs Eyrecourt, stiffly. “It is rather late in the day for that sort of thing. I shall be glad to see your wife when you are married, but I can’t make any promises of romantic friendship and so on. I hope you will be happy, and I shall of course show any kindness I can to—to Miss Laurence when she is my sister-in-law; but you must take into account the great disparity between her and me—of age and other things—and don’t expect impossibilities. It is best to speak plainly, you know, and then you will not expect too much. I shall do all in my power, I assure you.”