"Why, what is there to do?"
"I have to get things—dresses, house linen, all kinds of things."
"My dear, you are not going to marry a cit. Everything that you want you can buy. There are plenty of shops. You want nothing but what you have—your wardrobe, your fine things, and your common things, and your jewels. You must not forget your jewels."
"I thought that brides were always provided with things for the house. But if your lordship has already the linen and the napery——"
"Good Lord! How should I know what I have? The thing is that you will need nothing."
"Where will you take me?"
"I think, first of all, to my house in Gloucestershire. It is not fully furnished; the late possessor, my cousin, whom I succeeded, was, unfortunately, a gambler. He had to cut down his woods and to sell them; he even had to sell his furniture and pictures. But I can soon put the house in order fit for your reception." It was he himself, and not his predecessor, who had sold these things. "If it is not so fine, at first, as you would wish, we can soon make it worthy of you."
I have often wondered what he intended to do with his bride if things had gone differently. I am now certain that he intended to take her to this great country house, which, as I have understood, stands in a secluded part of the country, with no near neighbours and no town within reach; and that he intended to leave her there, while he himself went up to London to resume the old gaming and raking, which he desired so much, although they had been his ruin. Fate, however, prevented this design.
"If you desire my happiness, my lord——"
"What else is there in the whole world that I should desire?"