Isabel in talking to them made no
scruple of declaring her own feelings; and though in speaking to
Lord Silverbridge she had spoken very much as her father had done
afterwards, yet in this family conclave she took her lover's part.
'That is all very well, father,' she said, 'I told him the same
thing myself. But if he is man enough to be firm I shall not throw
him over,--not for all the dukes in Europe. I shall not stay here
to be pointed at. I will go back home. If he follows me to show
that he is in earnest, I shall not disappoint him for the sake of
pleasing his father.' To this neither Mr nor Mrs Boncassen were
able to make any efficient answer. Mrs Boncassen, dear good woman,
could see no reason why two young people who loved each other
should not be married at once. Dukes and duchesses were nothing to
her. If they couldn't be happy in England then let them come and
live in New York. She didn't understand that anybody could be too
good for her daughter. Was there not an idea that Mr Boncassen
would be the next President? And was not the President of the
United States as good as the Queen of England?
Lord Silverbridge when he left Mr Boncassen wandered about the
park by himself.
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