"He has told
me that he made you an offer of marriage," replied Lady Lufton: "a
matter which, of course, is very serious to me, as his mother; and
I have thought, therefore, that I had better see you, and appeal to
your own good sense and judgement and high feeling. Of course you are
aware--"
Now was coming the lecture to be illustrated by King Cophetua and
Griselda, as Lucy had suggested to Mrs. Robarts; but she succeeded
in stopping it for awhile. "And did Lord Lufton tell you what was my
answer?"
"Not in words. But you yourself now say that you refused him; and I
must express my admiration for your good--"
"Wait half a moment, Lady Lufton. Your son did make me an offer. He
made it to me in person, up at the parsonage, and I then refused
him;--foolishly, as I now believe, for I dearly love him. But I did
so from a mixture of feelings which I need not, perhaps, explain;
that most prominent, no doubt, was a fear of your displeasure. And
then he came again, not to me, but to my brother, and urged his suit
to him. Nothing can have been kinder to me, more noble, more loving,
more generous, than his conduct. At first I thought, when he was
speaking to myself, that he was led on thoughtlessly to say all that
he did say. I did not trust his love, though I saw that he did trust
it himself.
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