thought that something
had happened."

"I am so sorry that he should be unhappy, for I know that he is
good."

"Yes, he is good; and your father likes him, and Augustus. In such a
matter as this, Madeline, I would never say a word to persuade you. I
should think it wrong to do so. But it may be, dearest, that he has
flurried you by the suddenness of his offer; and that you have not
yet thought much about it."

"But, mamma, I know that I do not love him."

"Of course. That is natural. It would have been a great misfortune if
you had loved him before you had reason to know that he loved you;--a
great misfortune. But now,--now that you cannot but think of him, now
that you know what his wishes are, perhaps you may learn--"

"But I have refused him, and he has gone away."

"Young gentlemen under such circumstances sometimes come back again."

"He won't come back, mamma, because--because I told him so plainly--I
am sure he understands that it is all to be at an end."

"But if he should, and if you should then think differently towards
him--"

"Oh, no!"

"But if you should, it may be well that you should know how all your
friends esteem him. In a worldly view the marriage would be in all
respects prudent; and as to disposition and temper, which I admit are
much more important, I confess I think that he has all the qualities
best adapted to make a wife happy. But, as I said before, the heart
must speak for itself."

"Yes; of course. And I know that I shall never love him;--not in that
way."

"You may be sure, dearest, that there will be no constraint put
upon you. It might be possible that I or your papa should forbid a
daughter's marriage, if she had proposed to herself an imprudent
match; but neither he nor I would ever use our influence with a child
to bring about a marriage because we think it prudent in a worldly
point of view." And then Lady Staveley kissed her daughter.

"Dear mamma, I know how good you are to me." And she answered her
mother's embrace by the pressure of her arm. But nevertheless she did
not feel herself to be quite comfortable. There was something in
the words which her mother had spoken which grated against her most
cherished feelings;--something, though she by no means knew what.
Why had her mother cautioned her in that way, that there might be a
case in which she would refuse her sanction to a proposed marriage?
Isabella's marriage had been concluded with the full agreement of
the