had poisoned your grandfather.

Lady Emily was exceedingly gratified at her daughter's engagement; of
course she was very quiet about it, she did n't clap her hands or drag
in Mr. Tester's name; but it was easy to see that she felt a kind of
maternal peace, an abiding satisfaction. The young man behaved as well
as possible, was constantly seen with Joscelind, and smiled down at her
in the kindest, most protecting way. They looked beautiful together; you
would have said it was a duty for people whose color matched so well to
marry. Of course he was immensely taken up, and did n't come very often
to see me; but he came sometimes, and when he sat there he had a look
which I did n't understand at first. Presently I saw what it expressed;
in my drawing-room he was off duty, he had no longer to sit up and play
a part; he would lean back and rest and draw a long breath, and forget
that the day of his execution was fixed. There was to be no indecent
haste about the marriage; it was not to take place till after the
session, at the end of August It puzzled me and rather distressed me.
that his heart should n't be a little more in the matter; it seemed
strange to be engaged to so charming a girl and yet go through with it
as if it were simply a social duty. If one had n't been in love with her
at first, one ought to have been at the end of a week or two. If Ambrose
Tester was not (and to me he did n't pretend to be), he carried it off,
as I have said, better than I should have expected. He was a gentleman,
and he behaved like a gentleman, with the added punctilio, I think, of
being sorry for his betrothed. But it was difficult to see what, in the
long run, he could expect to make of such a position. If a man
marries an ugly, unattractive woman for reasons of state, the thing is
comparatively simple; it is understood between them, and he need have
no remorse at not offering her a sentiment of which there has been
no question. But when he picks out a charming creature to gratify his
father and _les convenances_, it is not so easy to be happy in not
being able to care for her. It seemed to me that it would have been much
better for Ambrose Tester to bestow himself upon a girl who might have
given him an excuse for tepidity. His wife should have been healthy but
stupid, prolific but morose. Did he expect to continue not to be in
love with Joscelind, or to conceal from her the mechanical nature of his
attentions? It was difficult to see