'
'At Castle Dacre, my conduct to all its inmates is the same. The Duke
of St. James, indeed, hath both hereditary and personal claims to be
considered here as something better than a mere inmate; but your Grace
has elected to dissolve all connection with our house, and I am not
desirous of assisting you in again forming any.'
'Harsh words, Miss Dacre!'
'Harsher truth, my Lord Duke,' said Miss Dacre, rising from her seat,
and twisting a pen with agitated energy. 'You have prolonged this
interview, not I. Let it end, for I am not skilful in veiling my mind;
and I should regret, here at least, to express what I have hitherto
succeeded in concealing.'
'It cannot end thus,' said his Grace: 'let me, at any rate, know the
worst. You have, if not too much kindness, at least too much candour, to
part sol' 'I am at a loss to understand,' said Miss Dacre, 'what other
object our conversation can have for your Grace than to ascertain my
feelings, which I have already declared more than once, upon a point
which you have already more than once urged. If I have not been
sufficiently explicit or sufficiently clear, let me tell you, sir, that
nothing but the request of a parent whom I adore would have induced me
even to speak to the person who had dared to treat him with contempt.
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