Part 12 (1/2)
”Do you know, Robert,” she said, glancing up at him from under her long black lashes, ”Papa grows unendurable. I have had to speak very plainly to him, and to make him understand that I am marrying for my own benefit and not for his.”
”Where is he, then?”
”I don't know. At the Three Pigeons, no doubt. He spends most of his time there now. He flew off in a pa.s.sion, and talked such nonsense about marriage settlements, and forbidding the banns, and so on. His notion of a marriage settlement appears to be a settlement upon the bride's father. He should wait quietly, and see what can be done for him.”
”I think, Laura, that we must make a good deal of allowance for him,”
said Robert earnestly. ”I have noticed a great change in him lately. I don't think he is himself at all. I must get some medical advice. But I have been up at the Hall this morning.”
”Have you? Have you seen Raffles? Did he send anything for me?”
”He said that he would come down when he had finished his work.”
”But what is the matter, Robert?” cried Laura, with the swift perception of womanhood. ”You are flushed, and your eyes are s.h.i.+ning, and really you look quite handsome. Raffles has been telling you something! What was it? Oh, I know! He has been telling you how he made his money.
Hasn't he, now?”
”Well, yes. He took me partly into his confidence. I congratulate you, Laura, with all my heart, for you will be a very wealthy woman.”
”How strange it seems that he should have come to us in our poverty.
It is all owing to you, you dear old Robert; for if he had not taken a fancy to you, he would never have come down to Elmdene and taken a fancy to some one else.”
”Not at all,” Robert answered, sitting down by his sister, and patting her hand affectionately. ”It was a clear case of love at first sight.
He was in love with you before he ever knew your name. He asked me about you the very first time I saw him.”
”But tell me about his money, Bob,” said his sister. ”He has not told me yet, and I am so curious. How did he make it? It was not from his father; he told me that himself. His father was just a country doctor.
How did he do it?”
”I am bound over to secrecy. He will tell you himself.”
”Oh, but only tell me if I guess right. He had it left him by an uncle, eh? Well, by a friend? Or he took out some wonderful patent? Or he discovered a mine? Or oil? Do tell me, Robert!”
”I mustn't, really,” cried her brother laughing. ”And I must not talk to you any more. You are much too sharp. I feel a responsibility about it; and, besides, I must really do some work.”
”It Is very unkind of you,” said Laura, pouting. ”But I must put my things on, for I go into Birmingham by the 1.20.”
”To Birmingham?”
”Yes, I have a hundred things to order. There is everything to be got.
You men forget about these details. Raffles wishes to have the wedding in little more than a fortnight. Of course it will be very quiet, but still one needs something.”
”So early as that!” said Robert, thoughtfully. ”Well, perhaps it is better so.”
”Much better, Robert. Would it not be dreadful if Hector came back first and there was a scene? If I were once married I should not mind. Why should I? But of course Raffles knows nothing about him, and it would be terrible if they came together.”
”That must be avoided at any cost.”
”Oh, I cannot bear even to think of it. Poor Hector! And yet what could I do, Robert? You know that it was only a boy and girl affair. And how could I refuse such an offer as this? It was a duty to my family, was it not?”