Part 60 (1/2)
Grenfell took the letter from the other's hand, and pored over it in silence for several minutes; then, leisurely folding it, he laid it down on the table.
”How do you understand him?” asked Ladarelle again.
”It's not very easy to understand what he says here; though, if the words had been spoken instead of written, I suspect I could have come at the meaning.”
”'There ain't two ways about it,'” repeated Dolly, moodily, ”and why not say which is the one way? That would be more to the purpose.”
”It's one of two things, evidently; either you are to get rid of Sir Within, or his ward. Grog is not a very scrupulous fellow; but though he would poison a horse he had laid heavily against for the Derby, I don't think he'd go so far in the case of an old diplomatist. It remains then to be seen what is to be done with the ward; he probably means you should carry her off yourself.”
”Perhaps she wouldn't come: if she has designs on Sir Within, it's almost certain she would not.”
Grenfell made no answer, but sat lost in thought for some minutes, when he said: ”Yes; that's what Grog advises: his calculation is, that this old man's infatuation, which, uninterfered with, would have led him into a foolish marriage, will, if it be crossed and thwarted, as certainly break him down and kill him.”
”Men don't die of these things!”
”Not men like you and me, certainly; but there is a time of life when existence is held on a very frail tenure; and, at that time, a mere hope extinguished serves to crush vitality.”
”And do you really think he'd take it so much to heart?”
”I know too little of him to give an opinion. When I have seen him some half-dozen times more, and seen, besides, something of his manner towards her, I might risk a guess, perhaps.”
”If I was quite sure that I 'stood in' for the double event--that is, to stop her marriage and succeed to the estate at once--I almost think I'd do it.”
”'Yes,” said Grenfell, after another pause, ”this must be what Grog alludes to, as the one way of dealing with the matter.”
”She'd insist on marriage, I suppose?” said Dolly, in a sort of sulky tone.
”Of course she would.”
”That's a bit of a bore. I had not calculated on such a step for these six or eight years yet. Then there's another thing to be thought of: my governor, who naturally will not see the necessity of the step, is sure to be outrageous at it. All that he will recognise will be the very thing he most despises in the world--a love match.”
”Could he not be brought to see a much more valid reason for this match?
Don't you think the matter could be placed before him in such a light that he must accept that view?”
”No. I know him better. I could tell you at once what he'd say.” ”And what would it be?”
”He'd say: If she must be got out of the way and married off, get some hard-up Sub who can't pay his mess debts, or wants to lodge a few hundreds for the next vacancy; or find some Irish squire. My governor always thinks an Irishman is ready for anything but paying his debts.
He'd marry her for a couple of thousand down. That's what my governor would hit on, without taking five minutes to think of it.”
”What if _she_ would not consent to such an arrangement?” ”That's as it might be. You'll not find my governor giving any one credit for a strong will but himself. He reasons out every question his own way, and never suspects the mere possibility of opposition.”
”That may do in the bank, perhaps, where none can gainsay him.”
”He'll tell you, it does just as well in the world at large; and he'll point to himself as the best proof of the system.”
”I should like to hear your father discuss the question with the young lady herself; she, I take it, has a will of her own, also; and the matter would probably be well debated.” ”She'd have no chance with my governor!”
”I'm not so sure of that. I have a suspicion that she could hold her own in an argument that touched her interest.”