No doubt she had loved him
with all her heart, but that will make no difference to her, if he
wishes,--to be off. Upon the whole Miss Smith thinks that she would
prefer such an arrangement, in spite of her heart. Adelaide Palliser
had said something of the kind. As Gerard Maule had regarded her
as a "trouble", and had lamented that prospect of "Boulogne" which
marriage had presented to his eyes, she had dismissed him with a few
easily spoken words. She had assured him that no such troubles need
weigh upon him. No doubt they had been engaged;--but, as far as she
was concerned, the remembrance of that need not embarrass him. And so
she and Lord Chiltern between them had sent him away. But how was she
to get him back again?
When she came to think it over, she acknowledged to herself that it
would be all the world to her to have him back. To have him at all
had been all the world to her. There had been nothing peculiarly
heroic about him, nor had she ever regarded him as a hero. She had
known his faults and weaknesses, and was probably aware that he was
inferior to herself in character and intellect.
Pages:
1106
1107
1108
1109
1110
1111
1112
1113
1114
1115
1116
1117
1118
1119
1120
1121
1122
1123
1124
1125
1126
1127
1128
1129
1130