The Duchess had said that it was the same thing. "Then," said
the Duke, "why use a redundant expletive against your own
relative?" The Duchess, when she was accused of strong language,
had not minded it much; but her feelings were hurt when a redundant
expletive was attributed to her. The effect of all this had been
that the Duke in a mild way had taken up Arabella's part, and that
the Duchess, following her husband at last, had been brought round
to own that Arabella, though bad, had been badly treated. She had
disbelieved, and then believed, and had again disbelieved
Arabella's own statement as to the offer of marriage. But the girl
had certainly been in earnest when she had begged her aunt to ask
her uncle to speak to Lord Rufford. Surely when she did she must
have thought that an offer had been made to her. Such offer, if
made, had no doubt been produced by very hard pressure; but still
an offer of marriage is an offer, and a girl, if she can obtain it,
has a right to use such an offer as so much property. Then came
Lord Mistletoe's report after his meeting with Arabella up in
London. He had been unable to give his cousin any satisfaction, but
he was clearly of opinion that she had been ill-used. He did not
venture to suggest any steps, but did think that Lord Rufford was
bound as a gentleman to marry the young lady.
Pages:
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612