But he was
not desperate. His heart was full of high resolves and mighty meanings,
indefinite but great, He felt like some conqueror, who, marking the
battle going against him, proud in his infinite resources and invincible
power, cannot credit the madness of a defeat. And the lady, she leant
her head upon her delicate arm, and screened her countenance from his
scrutiny.
He advanced.
'Miss Dacre! pardon this prolonged intrusion; forgive this renewed
discourse. But let me only hope that a more favoured rival is the cause
of my despair, and I will thank you----'
'My Lord Duke,' she said, looking up with a faint blush, but with a
flashing eye, and in an audible and even energetic tone, 'the question
you ask is neither fair nor manly; but, as you choose to press me, I
will say that it requires no recollection of a third person to make me
decline the honour which you intended me.'
'Miss Dacre! you speak in anger, almost in bitterness. Believe me,' he
added, rather with an air of pique, 'had I imagined from your conduct
towards me that I was an object of dislike, I would have spared you this
inconvenience and myself this humiliation.
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