The speaker laughed, and Aylmer's cheek flushed, for he detected a sneer beneath the jesting words, and was pained by it.
Captain Torrance saw the look, and continued. "Do not misunderstand my jesting words. Feeling as you do, you cannot regard me as a desirable husband for Kathleen; but until you have spoken to her I will not ask your consent. Be sure, however, we should both be happier for having it, and Mrs. Ellicott's also."
Kathleen prevented the possibility of any difficulty when the subject was named to her.
"Glad as I should be to have your consent and aunty's, I will not seek it; and, though I have no fears respecting my future, you shall have no responsibility, whatever may happen. I will not marry until I am my own mistress."
Mrs. Ellicott was distressed, but helpless; for Kathleen deferred to her guardians in everything until the end of their trust. As for Aylmer, he would have forfeited his whole fortune, if by so doing he could have prevented the ill-omened marriage, though his prospect of winning Kathleen himself would have remained hopeless. He sometimes thought that Torrance would prefer wealth alone, rather than with a wife, however charming.
On the other hand, Aylmer noticed that Kathleen was exacting in requiring her lover's attendance, and that Torrance showed a scarcely veiled impatience to escape. "No wonder," thought Aylmer. "He has so long been unused to home-life that it soon palls upon him. What will the future bring, when such a life is expected to be lasting?"
He hinted these doubts to John Torrance in a half-jesting way, and the answer startled him.
"You think I shall not settle down easily after my recent vagabond life, but we shall not need to be quite humdrum in our habits. Kathleen must see something of life, and I shall delight in introducing her to it, in order to give her new interests, before we drop into the domestic rut. After a season in town we shall enjoy Hollingsby and rural felicity," replied the other, with a laugh.
Perhaps John Torrance read the fears that filled Aylmer's mind as he listened, and he continued: "You have no faith in me, but mind, I am not wholly selfish and mercenary, though you know how needy I am—none better. But let me tell you, that if you could and would hand over to me every yard of land and every penny she possesses, with your fortune to boot, on condition of giving up Kathleen, I would refuse all. She has honoured me by her choice. A world's wealth would not to give her up."
"Who could relinquish one like Kathleen?" asked Aylmer, with a sigh. "Be good and true to her, Torrance. Make her happy, and those who love her will be happy in knowing it, and bless you as the cause."