That
story had been read by her with exactness. 'I cannot lose you
now,' she had said to him, leaning on his arm;--'I cannot afford to
lose you now. But I fear that someone else is losing you.' To
this he answered nothing, but simply pressed her closer to his
side. 'Someone else,' she continued, 'who perhaps may have reason
to think that you have injured her.' 'No,' he said boldly; 'no;
there is no such person.' For he had never ceased to assure
himself that in all that matter with Mabel Grex he had been guilty
of no treachery. There had been a moment, indeed, in which she
might have taken him; but she had chosen to let it pass from her.
All of which, or nearly all of which,--Isabel now saw, and had seen
also that the Duke had been a consenting party to that other
arrangement. She had reason therefore to doubt the manner of her
acceptance.
But she had been accepted. She had made such acceptance by him a
stipulation in her acceptance of her son. She was sure of the
ground on which she trod and was determined to carry herself, if
not with pride, yet with dignity.
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