To her aunt's bitter disappointment, Kathleen adhered to her resolution.
"As though John would do wrong to a second son, if he should have one!" she said indignantly. "Would a child of mine be less dear to him than Ralph is? John loves me truly and disinterestedly. Has he not proved it by wishing to have the settlement? We shall begin a new life together, and my perfect trust in him will be his greatest help and safeguard."
Even John Torrance's subsequent avowal that the proposed settlement would be right and proper, failed to move her.
"There shall be no half confidences," she said. "When I promised to be John's wife and Ralph's mother, I trusted John with the best I had to give. Do you think that I value money or lands as I do my own hope of happiness? If John is fit to take care of me and make me happy, he is fit for the lesser charge of managing and turning to good account, for our mutual benefit, whatever property I have the power to place in his hands."
Kathleen's face fairly shone with enthusiasm, and never had she looked more beautiful than when insisting upon what she regarded as an act of unselfish trustfulness, though others deemed it rashness and folly.
"Is there nothing that she is unable to alienate?" asked Mrs. Ellicott, in deep distress.
"Just one little property, which came to her from an aunt of her father. It is worth about three hundred and fifty a year, and is tied up to her as fast as the law can secure it," replied the disgusted solicitor. "I must congratulate you, madam, and Mr. Matheson too," he added, "that you no longer hold the place of guardians to such a wilful ward. You cannot protect her now against her own self-will. We can only hope she will have no cause to regret the having set at naught the counsel of all her friends, including that of her intended husband. What would her father have said? He who was so proud of the Mountfords' care of the old lands, so long held by them."
"My luck is beyond belief," thought John Torrance. "Poor Kathleen! I wish I were a better man for her sake, and, 'pon my word, I wish the property could be settled. It is an awful temptation; and, when one has seen the last shilling of two fortunes vanish, one would like to keep hold of the third. Very few men get so many chances as I have had."
On a sunny April day Kathleen was married at the village church, where she had worshipped all her life. There had been talk of a wedding at a fashionable church in London, but this she would not hear of.
"Miss Pritchard shall make my wedding-gown. If Mellingham mercers have not as large a stock, they can get patterns and pieces, lace and lingerie without limit. I shall have all my outfit as pretty as I can desire, and at half the cost of London and Paris productions. I have no wish to waste money because there is plenty," was Kathleen's wise decision.