What must
Sir Gerald think of her?
Even to the end she was just the little "Irish nothin'," as she had
justly, it seemed to her now, described herself to him. She had hurt
and offended him. In that one rude, foolish, unnecessary question,
"Are you goin' to propose too?" she had outraged common courtesy,
and made it impossible for him to say even a friendly "Good bye" to
her. She did not realise the full measure of the insult until
afterwards. She had practically insinuated that he was following the
somewhat sordid example of cousin Alaric and Montgomery Hawkes in
proposing for her hand because, in a few years, she would benefit by
her uncle's will. Such a suggestion was not only unworthy of her--it
was an unforgivable thing to say to him. He had always treated her
with the greatest courtesy and consideration, and because he did not
flaunt his gentility before her, she had taken unwarranted umbrage
and had said something that raised an impassable barrier between
them.
All the way across the Atlantic poor lonely Peg had many
opportunities of reviewing that brief glimpse of English life. She
felt now how wrong her attitude had been to the whole of the
Chichester family. She had judged them at first sight. She had
resolved that they were just selfish, inconsiderate, characterless
people.
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