I have nothing to suggest, but I am ready to listen. You know
how ready I am to adopt all your suggestions; and I know how seldom you
have wanted an expedient.'
'The little Dacre, then, must not marry her cousin; but we cannot
flatter ourselves that such a girl will not want to marry some one;
I have a conviction that this is her decisive season. She must be
occupied. In a word, Lucy, some one must be found.'
The Baronet started from his chair, and nearly knocked down a table.
'Confound your tables, Bertha,' said he, in a pettish tone; 'I can never
consult in a room full of tables.' He walked into the conservatory, and
she followed him. He seemed plunged in thought. They were again silent.
Suddenly he seized her hand and led her back to the sofa, on which they
both sat down.
'My dear friend,' he said, in a tone of agitated solemnity. 'I will
conceal no longer from you what I have sometimes endeavoured to conceal
from myself: I love that girl to distraction.' 'You!'
'Yes; to distraction. Ever since we first met her image has haunted me.
I endeavoured to crush a feeling which promised only to plunge me into
anxiety, and to distract my attention from my important objects; but
in vain, in vain.
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