'Ethel is very fond of her old playmate.'
He winced as though with sudden pain.
'Ah, that is just it, Aunt Milly; she is fond of me and nothing else.'
'I like her name for you, Cœur-de-Lion, it sounds so musical from her lips; you are her friend, Richard; she trusts you implicitly.'
'I believe—I hope she does;' but drawing his hand again before his eyes, 'I am too young, Aunt Milly. I was only one-and-twenty last month.'
'True, and Sir Robert was nearly fifty; she refused a fine estate there.'
'Was her father angry with her?'
'Not so terribly incensed as he was about Mr. Cathcart the year before. Mr. Cathcart had double his fortune and was a young, good-looking man. I was almost afraid that in her misery she should be driven to marry him.'
'He has no right to persecute her so; why should he be so anxious to get rid of his only child?'
'That is what we all say. Poor Ethel, hers is no light cross. I am thankful she is beginning to take it patiently; the loss of a father's love must be dreadful, and hers is a proud spirit.'