When
therefore the severe letter came from Morton,--severe and pressing,
telling her that she was bound to answer him at once and that were
she still silent he must in regard to his own honour take that as
an indication of her intention to break off the match,--she felt
that she must answer it. The answer must, however, still be
ambiguous. She would not if possible throw away that stool quite as
yet, though her mind was intent on ascending to the throne which it
might be within her power to reach. She wrote to him an ambiguous
letter, but a letter which certainly was not intended to liberate
him. "He ought," she said, "to understand that a girl situated as
she was could not ultimately dispose of herself till her friends
had told her that she was free to do so. She herself did not
pretend to have any interest in the affairs as to which her father
and his lawyers were making themselves busy. They had never even
condescended to tell her what it was they wanted on her behalf;--
nor, for the matter of that, had he, Morton, ever told her what it
was that he refused to do. Of course she could not throw herself
into his arms till these things were settled."--By that expression
she had meant a metaphorical throwing of herself, and not such a
flesh and blood embracing as she had permitted to the lord in the
little room at Rufford.
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