At the end, he threw up his hands
again, and blinked inquiringly all round him, in mute appeal to
universal nature.
"When, in the course of time, matters were further advanced,"
continued Trudaine, without paying any attention to the
interruption; "when the offer of marriage was made, and when I
knew that Rose had in her own heart accepted it, I objected, and
I did not conceal my objections--"
"Heavens!" interposed Lomaque again, clasping his hands this time
with a look of bewilderment; "what objections, what possible
objections to a man young and well-bred, with an immense fortune
and an uncompromised character? I have heard of these objections;
I know they have made bad blood; and I ask myself again and
again, what can they be?"
"God knows I have often tried to dismiss them from my mind as
fanciful and absurd," said Trudaine, "and I have always failed.
It is impossible, in your presence, that I can describe in detail
what my own impressions have been, from the first, of the master
whom you serve. Let it be enough if I confide to you that I
cannot, even now, persuade myself of the sincerity of his
attachment to my sister, and that I feel--in spite of myself, in
spite of my earnest desire to put the most implicit confidence
in Rose's choice--a distrust of his character and temper, which
now, on the eve of the marriage, amounts to positive terror.
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