Part 30 (1/2)
”You can send her if you will, Norman.”
Was it his fancy, or did he really, as he stood at the door, hear a deep, heart-broken sigh? Did her voice, in a sad, low wail, come to him--”Norman, Norman!”
He turned quickly[5], but she seemed already to have forgotten him, and was looking through the open window.
Was it his fancy again, when the door had closed, or did she really cry--”Norman!” He opened the door quickly.
”Did you call me, Philippa?” he asked.
”No,” she replied; and he went away.
”I do not understand it,” he thought; ”there is something not quite right. Philippa is not like herself.”
Then he went in search of Lady Peters, whom he bewildered and astonished by telling her that it lay in her power to make him the happiest of men.
”That is what men say when they make an offer of marriage,” she observed; ”and I am sure you are not about to make one to me.”
”No; but, dear Lady Peters, I want you to help me marry some one else.
Will you go to the d.u.c.h.ess? She will tell you all about it.”
”Why not tell me yourself?” she asked.
”She has better powers of persuasion,” he replied, laughingly.
”Then I am afraid, if so much persuasion is required, that something wrong is on the _tapis_,” said Lady Peters. ”I cannot imagine why men who have beautiful young wives go yachting. It seems to me a terrible mistake.”
Lord Arleigh laughed.
”The duke's yachting has very little to do with this matter,” he said.
”Lady Peters, before you listen to the d.u.c.h.ess, let me make one appeal to you. With all my heart I beseech you to grant the favor that she will ask.”
He bent his handsome head, and kissed her hand, while emotion rose to the lady's eyes.
”Is it something for you, Lord Arleigh?” she asked.
”Yes,” he replied, ”for my own unworthy self.”
”Then I will do it if possible,” she replied.
But when the d.u.c.h.ess of Hazlewood had told her what was needed, and had placed the whole matter before her, Lady Peters looked shocked.
”My dear Philippa,” she said, ”this is terrible. I could not have believed it. She is a lovely, graceful, pure-minded girl, I know; but such a marriage for an Arleigh! I cannot believe it.”
”That is unfortunate,” said her grace, dryly, ”for he seems very much in earnest.”
”No money, no rank, no connections, while he is one of the finest matches in England.”