After all he has liked me better than any of them.
He wants me to go to Bragton."
"That of course is out of the question."
"It is not out of the question at all. I shall go."
"Arabella!"
"And you must go with me, mamma."
"I will do no such thing," said Lady Augustus, to whom the idea of
Bragton was terrible.
"Indeed you must. He has asked me to go, and I shall do it. You can
hardly let me go alone."
"And what will you say to Lord Rufford?"
"I don't care for Lord Rufford. Is he to prevent my going where I
please?"
"And your father,--and the Duke,--and the Duchess! How can you go
there after all that you have been doing since you left?"
"What do I care for the Duke and the Duchess. It has come to that,
that I care for no one. They are all throwing me over. That little
wretch Mistletoe will do nothing. This man really loved me. He has
never treated me badly. Whether he live or whether he die, he has
been true to me." Then she sat and thought of it all. What would
Lord Rufford care for her father's letter? If her cousin Mistletoe
would not stir in her behalf what chance had she with her uncle?
And, though she had thoroughly despised her cousin, she had
understood and had unconsciously believed much that he had said to
her. "In these days one can't make a man marry!" What horrid days
they were! But John Morton would marry her to-morrow if he were
well,--in spite of all her ill usage! Of course he would die and so
she would again be overwhelmed; but yet she would go and see him.
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