"If she were once my wife he would not reject her. Of all human
beings he is in truth the kindest and most affectionate."

"And therefore you would try him after this fashion? No, my Lord; I
cannot see my way through these difficulties. You can say what you
please to him as to your own wishes. But you must not tell him that
you have any sanction from me."

That evening the story was told to Mrs. Boncassen, and the matter
was discussed among the family. Isabel in talking to them made no
scruple of declaring her own feelings; and though in speaking to
Lord Silverbridge she had spoken very much as her father had done
afterwards, yet in this family conclave she took her lover's part.
"That is all very well, father," she said; "I told him the same thing
myself. But if he is man enough to be firm I shall not throw him
over,--not for all the dukes in Europe. I shall not stay here to be
pointed at. I will go back home. If he follows me then I shall choose
to forget all about his rank. If he loves me well enough to show that
he is in earnest, I shall not disappoint him for the sake of pleasing
his father." To this neither Mr. nor Mrs. Boncassen was able to make
any efficient answer. Mrs. Boncassen, dear good woman, could see
no reason why two young people who loved each other should not be
married at once. Dukes and duchesses were nothing to her. If they
couldn't be happy in England, then let them come and live in New
York. She didn't understand that anybody could be too good for her
daughter. Was there not an idea that Mr. Boncassen would be the next
President? And was not the President of the United States as good as
the Queen of England?

Lord Silverbridge, when he left Mr. Boncassen, wandered about the
park by himself. King Cophetua married the beggar's daughter. He
was sure of that. King Cophetua probably had not a father; and the
beggar, probably, was not high-minded. But the discrepancy in that
case was much greater. He intended to persevere, trusting much to a
belief that when once he was married his father would "come round."
His father always did come round. But the more he thought of it, the
more impossible it seemed to him that he should ask his father's
consent at the present moment. Lady Mabel's presence in the house
was an insuperable obstacle. He thought that he could do it if he
and his father were alone together, or comparatively alone. He must
be prepared for an opposition, at any rate of some days, whi