'Why not yet, dear?'
'Well, because-. It is very hard to explain. In the first place,
because Mr Tregear himself does not wish it.'
'That is a very bad reason; the worst in the world.'
'Of course you will say so. Of course everybody would say so. But
when there is one person whom one loves better than all the rest,
for whom one would be ready to die, to whom one is determined that
everything shall be devoted, surely the wishes of the person so
dear as that ought to have weight.'
'Not in persuading you to do that which is acknowledged to be
wrong.'
'What wrong? I am going to do nothing wrong.'
'The very concealment of your love is wrong, after that love has
been not only given but declared. A girl's position in such
matters is so delicate, especially that of such a girl as you!'
'I know all about that,' said Lady Mary, with something almost
like scorn in her tone. 'Of course I have to be--delicate. I don't
quite know what the word means. I am not ashamed of being in love
with Mr Tregear. He is a gentleman, highly educated, very clever,
of an old family,--older, I believe, than papa's.
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