FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   >>  
f that piece of news. I said I didn't believe it, and yet I'm afraid I did. It was so like a man to give in at last; at least, like any man but Richard. He had always liked Charlotte Benson, and known how clever she was, and Sophie had been so set upon it, (particularly since Richard had had so much money that he had given her a handsome settlement that nothing would affect.) And now that Kilian was married and would have the place, unless Richard wanted it, it was natural that Sophie should approve Richard having _his_ wife there instead of Kilian having his; Kilian's being one that nobody particularly approved. Yes, it did sound very much like probability. I wasn't given to self-analysis; but I acknowledged to myself, that I was very much disappointed, and that if I had known that this was going to happen, I should have stayed in Europe. I had never felt as if there were any chance of Richard marrying any one; I had not said to myself, that his love for me still had an existence, nor had I any reason to believe it. But the truth had been, I had always felt that he belonged to me, and was my right, and I felt a bitter resentment toward this woman, who was supposed to have usurped my place. How _dared_ Richard love anybody else! I was angry with him, and very much hurt, and very, very unhappy. Long after Mrs. Throckmorton went to her middle-aged repose, I sat up and went through imaginary scenes, and reviewed the situation a hundred times, and tried to convince myself of what I wanted to believe, and ended without any satisfaction. One thing was certain. If Richard was going to marry Charlotte Benson, he was not going to do it because he loved her. He might not be prevented from doing it because he loved me; but he did not love her. I could not say why exactly. But I knew she was not the kind of woman for him to think of loving, and I would not believe it till I heard it from himself, and I would hear it from himself at the earliest possible date. I did not like to be unhappy, and was very impatient to get rid of this, if it were not true, and to know the worst, at once, if it were. "My dear Throcky," I said to my companion, at the breakfast-table, "I think you'd better go and take dinner with your niece to-day. I've sent for Mr. Vandermarck to come and dine, and I thought perhaps you'd rather not be bored; we shall have business to talk about, and business is such a nuisance when you're not interested in it
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   >>  



Top keywords:
Richard
 

Kilian

 

business

 
wanted
 
unhappy
 
Sophie
 

Charlotte

 

Benson

 

interested

 

prevented


loving
 
convince
 

situation

 

hundred

 

satisfaction

 

thought

 

Vandermarck

 

breakfast

 

companion

 

Throcky


dinner
 

reviewed

 

earliest

 
impatient
 

nuisance

 
natural
 
approve
 

married

 

affect

 

probability


approved

 

settlement

 
handsome
 
afraid
 

clever

 
analysis
 

acknowledged

 

supposed

 

usurped

 

imaginary


repose

 

Throckmorton

 
middle
 

chance

 
marrying
 
Europe
 

disappointed

 

happen

 
stayed
 

bitter