The latter communicated
the fact in a very dry manner to her father and mother. Nothing was
to be got from them, and it was only just necessary that they
should know what she intended to do with herself. "My dear mamma. I
am to be married some time early in May to Mr. Mounser Green of the
Foreign Office. I don't think you know him, but I daresay you have
heard of him. He goes to Patagonia immediately after the wedding,
and I shall go with him. Your affectionate daughter, Arabella
Trefoil." That was all she said, and the letter to her father was
word for word the same. But how to make use of those friends who
were more happily circumstanced was matter for frequent counsel
between her and Mr. Green. In these days I do not think that she
concealed very much from him. To tell him all the little details of
her adventures with Lord Rufford would have been neither useful nor
pleasant; but, as to the chief facts, reticence would have been
foolish. To the statement that Lord Rufford had absolutely proposed
to her she clung fast, and really did believe it herself. That she
had been engaged to John Morton she did not deny; but she threw the
blame of that matter on her mother, and explained to him that she
had broken off the engagement down at Bragton, because she could
not bring herself to regard the man with sufficient personal
favour.
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