"
"You shall have the right to set me free," said I, "if I must go
to your father's house. And if I do not go there, but out to my
own good country, you shall still have the right before all the
world to follow, or to wait till I come to fetch you."
"I do not understand you, Robert," said she. "I do not--" Here
she broke off, looking, looking at me, and trembling a little.
Then I stooped and whispered softly in her ear. She gave a little
cry, and drew back from me; yet instantly her hand came out and
caught my arm.
"Robert, Robert! I can not, I dare not!" she cried softly. "No,
no, it may not be," she added in a whisper of fear.
I went to the alcove, drew back the curtain, and asked Mr.
Wainfleet to step forth.
"Sir," said I, picking up my Prayer Book and putting it in his
hands, "I beg you to marry this lady and myself."
He paused, dazed. "Marry you--here--now?" he asked shakingly.
"Before ten minutes go round, this lady must be my wife," said I.
"Mademoiselle Duvarney, you--" he began.
"Be pleased, dear sir, to open the book at 'Wilt thou have,'" said
I. "The lady is a Catholic; she has not the consent of her people;
but when she is my wife, made so by you, whose consent need we ask?
Can you not tie us fast enough, a man and woman of sense sufficient,
but you must pause here? Is the knot you tie safe against picking
and stealing?"
I had touched his vanity and his ecclesiasticism.
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