“I hope nothing has gone wrong?” she inquired, rendered rather uneasy by his looks.
“I'm very much afraid the match won't come off,” he replied; “unless your ladyship will kindly act for me.”
“I will do anything you desire,” she rejoined earnestly. “It would grieve me beyond measure if any contretemps occurred.”
“I cannot explain matters fully at this moment,” he said. “But it is certain I am entirely to blame.”
“Since your lordship so frankly makes that admission,” she rejoined, “there can be no difficulty in arranging the quarrel—for quarrel I suppose it is.”
“I will tell you all when we get to Brackley,” he said. “But meantime, I may mention a circumstance of which I am quite sure neither your ladyship nor Sir Bridgworth are aware.”
“Your lordship must speak in a lower tone, if you would not have me hear all you say,” remarked the baronet.
“But I do wish you to hear this,” rejoined Lord Courland. “Mrs. Calverley has only just discovered that if she marries again, the whole of her property goes to Chetwynd and Mildred.”
“You amaze me!” cried Sir Bridgnorth.
“When this piece of information was first communicated to me by Carteret,” continued his lordship, “I yielded to an impulse of anger for which I now reproach myself, and declared I would break off the match.”