'No; my Lord I do not.' It was not
the refusal conveyed in these words which annoyed him. He did
believe that if he were to press his suit with the usual forms she
would accept him. But it was that there should be such a total
absence of trepidation in her words and manner. Before her he
blushed and hesitated and felt that he did not know how to express
himself. If she would only have done the same, then there would
have been an equality. Then he could have seized her in his arms
and sworn that never, never, never would he care for any one but
her.
In truth he saw everything as it was only too truly. Though she
might choose to marry him if he pressed his request, she would
never subject herself to him as he would have the girl do whom he
loved. She was his superior, and in every word uttered between
them showed that it was so. But yet how beautiful she was;--how
much more beautiful than any other thing he had ever seen!
He sat on one of the high seats behind Sir Timothy Beeswax and Sir
Orlando Drought, listening, or pretending to listen, to the
speeches of three or four gentlemen respecting sugar, thinking of
all this till half-past seven;--and then he went to dine with the
proud consciousness of having done his duty.
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