And yet her face was very sad,
declaring to him too plainly something of the hopelessness of her
heart. 'And so the Duke has consented,' she said. He had told her
that in his letter, but since that, her father had died, and she
had been left, he did not as yet know how impoverished, but, he
feared, with no pleasant worldly prospects before her.
'Yes, Mabel;--that I suppose will be settled. I have been so
shocked to hear all this.'
'It has been very sad;--has it not? Sit down, Frank. You and I
have a good deal to say to each other now that we have met. It was
no good your going down to Brighton. He would not have seen you,
and at last I never left him.'
'Was Percival there?' She only shook her head. 'That was
dreadful.'
'It was not Percival's fault. He would not see him; nor till the
last hour or two would he believe in his own danger. Nor was he
ever to frightened for a moment,--not even then.'
'Was he good to you?'
'Good to me! Well;--he liked my being there. Poor papa! It had
gone so far with him that he could not be good to any one.
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