And what must he have thought as he stood there within the dock,
looking at her and listening to her? There had been months in his
life when he had almost trusted that he would succeed in winning that
fair, highly-born, and wealthy woman for his wife; and though he had
failed, and now knew that he had never really touched her heart, that
she had always loved the man whom,--though she had rejected him time
after time because of the dangers of his ways,--she had at last
married, yet it must have been pleasant to him, even in his peril, to
hear from her own lips how well she had esteemed him. She left the
Court with her veil down, and he could not catch her eye; but Lord
Chiltern nodded to him in his old pleasant familiar way, as though to
bid him take courage, and to tell him that all things would even yet
be well with him.
The evidence given by Lady Cantrip and her husband and by Mr. Monk
was equally favourable. She had always regarded him as a perfect
gentleman. Lord Cantrip had found him to be devoted to the service
of the country,--modest, intelligent, and high-spirited.
Pages:
1022
1023
1024
1025
1026
1027
1028
1029
1030
1031
1032
1033
1034
1035
1036
1037
1038
1039
1040
1041
1042
1043
1044
1045
1046