Had she not
given all that she possessed? Had she not emptied his store into his
lap? that heart of hers, beating with such genuine life, capable of
such perfect love, throbbing with so grand a pride; had she not given
that? And was it not that, between him and her, more than twenty
Greshamsburys, nobler than any pedigree? "To you who have nothing to
give," indeed! This to her who was so ready to give everything!

"Lady Arabella," she said, "I think that you do not understand me,
and that it is not likely that you should. If so, our further talking
will be worse than useless. I have taken no account of what will be
given between your son and me in your sense of the word giving. But
he has professed to--to love me"--as she spoke, she still looked on
the lady's face, but her eyelashes for a moment screened her eyes,
and her colour was a little heightened--"and I have acknowledged that
I also love him, and so we are engaged. To me my promise is sacred. I
will not be threatened into breaking it. If, however, he shall wish
to change his mind, he can do so. I will not upbraid him; will not,
if I can help it, think harshly of him. So much you may tell him if
it suits you; but I will not listen to your calculations as to how
much or how little each of us may have to give to the other."

She was still standing when she finished speaking, and so she
continued to stand. Her eyes were fixed on Lady Arabella, and her
position seemed to say that sufficient words had been spoken, and
that it was time that her ladyship should go; and so Lady Arabella
felt it. Gradually she also rose; slowly, but tacitly, she
acknowledged that she was in the presence of a spirit superior to her
own; and so she took her leave.

"Very well," she said, in a tone that was intended to be
grandiloquent, but which failed grievously; "I will tell him that he
has your permission to think a second time on this matter. I do not
doubt but that he will do so." Mary would not condescend to answer,
but curtsied low as her visitor left the room. And so the interview
was over.

The interview was over, and Mary was alone. She remained standing as
long as she heard the footsteps of Frank's mother on the stairs; not
immediately thinking of what had passed, but still buoying herself up
with her hot indignation, as though her work with Lady Arabella was
not yet finished; but when the footfall was no longer heard, and the
sound of the closing door told her that she was