The Duke has no other communication to make to Mr
Tregear, and must beg to decline any further correspondence.'
This was the reply which the Duke wrote to the applicant for his
daughter's hand. And he wrote it at once. He had acknowledged to
himself that Tregear had shown a certain manliness in his appeal;
but not on that account was such a man to have all that he
demanded! It seemed to the Duke that there was no alternative
between such a note as that given above and a total surrender.
But the post did not go out during the night, and the note lay
hidden in the Duke's private drawer till the morning. There was
still that 'locus poenitentiae' which should be accorded to all
letters written in anger. During the day he thought over it all
constantly, not in any spirit of yielding, not descending a single
step from that attitude of conviction which made him feel that it
might be his duty absolutely to sacrifice his daughter,--but asking
himself whether it might not be better to explain the whole matter
at length to the young man. He thought that he could put the
matter strongly.
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