"I wish to heaven you had, my dear," Eustace spoke with a grim hint of
humour. "It would have saved us both a good deal of unnecessary trouble
and humiliation. However, Scott was too big a fool to tell you. There is
a martyrlike sort of cussedness about him that is several degrees worse
than any pride. So he let things be, still cheating himself into the
belief that the arrangement was for your happiness, till, as you are
aware, it turned out so manifestly otherwise that he found himself
obliged once more to come to the rescue of his lady love. But his
exasperating humility was such that he never suspected the real reason
for your change of mind, and when I accused him of cutting me out, he was
as scandalized as only a righteous man knows how to be. You can't do much
with a fellow like that, you know,--a fool who won't believe the evidence
of his own senses. Besides, it was not for me to enlighten him,
particularly as you didn't want him to know the real state of things just
then. So I left him alone. The next day--only the next day, mind you--the
silent knight opened his heart; to whom, do you think? You'll be horribly
furious when I tell you."
He looked into the hot eyes with an expression half-tender in his own.
"Tell me!" breathed Dinah.
"Really? Well, prepare for a nasty shock! To Rose de Vigne!"
"To Rose!" Indignation gave place to bewilderment in Dinah's eyes.
Pages:
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540