laim. If my father acknowledged no heir,
yours was his lawful successor, and my Lord Castlewood hath as good a
right to his rank and small estate as any man in England. But that again
is not the question, as you know very well: let us bring our talk back to
it, as you will have me meddle in it. And I will give you frankly my
opinion, that a house where a prince lies all day, who respects no woman,
is no house for a young unmarried lady; that you were better in the
country than here; that he is here on a great end, from which no folly
should divert him; and that having nobly done your part of this morning,
Beatrix, you should retire off the scene awhile, and leave it to the other
actors of the play."

As the colonel spoke with a perfect calmness and politeness, such as 'tis
to be hoped he hath always shown to women,(18) his mistress stood by him
on one side of the table, and Frank Castlewood on the other, hemming in
poor Beatrix, that was behind it, and, as it were, surrounding her with
our approaches.

Having twice sallied out and been beaten back, she now, as I expected,
tried the _ultima ratio_ of women, and had recourse to tears. Her
beautiful eyes filled with them; I never could bear in her, nor in any
woman, that expression of pain:--"I am alone," sobbed she; "you are three
against me--my brother, my mother, and you. What have I done, that you
should speak and look so unkindly at me? Is it my fault that the prince
should, as you say, admire me? Did I bring him here? Did I do aught but
what you bade me, in making him welcome? Did you not tell me that our duty
was to die for him? Did you not teach me, mother, night and morning, to
pray for the king, before even ourselves? What would you have of me,
cousin, for you are the chief of the conspiracy against me; I know you
are, sir, and that my mother and brother are acting but as you bid them;
whither would you have me go?"

"I would but remove from the prince," says Esmond gravely, "a dangerous
temptation; Heaven forbid I should say you would yield: I would only have
him free of it. Your honour needs no guardian, please God, but his
imprudence doth. He is so far removed from all women by his rank, that his
pursuit of them cannot but be unlawful. We would remove the dearest and
fairest of our family from the chance of that insult, and that is why we
would have you go, dear Beatrix."

"Harry speaks like a book," says Frank, with one of his oaths, "and, by
----, every