But from the latter resource she cut him off for a time. "You will
do me the favour to remain with me here till this conversation is
ended. You cannot refuse me so slight a request as that, seeing the
trouble to which you have put me. I never saw a man so forgetful of
words. You cannot speak. Have you no excuse to offer, not a word to
say in explanation--of conduct so black that I don't think here in
England I ever heard a case to equal it? If your sister had been
treated so!"
"It would have been impossible"
"I believe it. Her cautious nature would have trusted no man as I
trusted you. Her lips, doubtless, were never unfrozen till the
settlements had been signed. With her it was a matter of bargain,
not of love. I can well believe that."
"I will not talk about my sister."
"It seems to me, Lord Rufford, that you object to talk about
anything. You certainly have been very uncommunicative with
reference to yourself. Were you lying when you told me that you
loved me?"
"No."
"Did I lie when I told the Duchess that you had promised me your
love? Did I lie when I told my mother that in these days a man does
not always mention marriage when he asks a girl to be his wife? You
said you loved me, and I believed you, and the rest was a thing of
course. And you meant it. You know you meant it.
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