“No, Luke, I should be the last to ask you to surrender any of your rights; you must be sure of that. But—oh, Luke, if what I hear is true I shall be so unhappy!”
“And what have you heard, mother?”
“I am afraid all this is not about the brewery altogether.”
“But it is about the brewery altogether;—about that and about nothing else to any smallest extent. I don’t at all know what you mean.”
“Luke, is there no young lady in the case?”
“Young lady! in what case;—in the case of my quarrel with old Tappitt;—whether he and I have had a difference about a young lady?”
“No, Luke; you know I don’t mean that.”
“But what do you mean, mother?”
“I’m afraid that you know too well. Is there not a young lady whom you’ve met at Mrs. Tappitt’s, and whom you—you pretend to admire?”
“And suppose there is—for the sake of the argument—what has that to do with my difference with Mr. Tappitt?” As Rowan asked this question some slight conception of the truth flashed across his mind; some faint idea came home to him of the connecting link between his admiration for Rachel Ray and Mr. Tappitt’s animosity.
“But is it so, Luke?” asked the anxious mother. “I care much more about that than I do about all the brewery put together. Nothing would make me so wretched as to see you make a marriage that was beneath you.”
“I don’t think I shall ever make you wretched in that way.”
“And you tell me that there is nothing in this that I have heard;—nothing at all.”
“No, by heavens!—I tell you no such thing. I do not know what you may have heard. That you have heard falsehood and calumny I guess by your speaking of a marriage that would be beneath me. But, as you think it right to ask me, I will not deceive you by any subterfuge. It is my purpose to ask a girl here in Baslehurst to be my wife.”
“Then you have not asked her yet.”
“You are cross-examining me very closely, mother. If I have not asked her I am bound to do so; not that any binding is necessary—for without being bound I certainly should do so.”
“And it is Miss Ray?”
“Yes, it is Miss Ray.”
“Oh, Luke, then indeed I shall be very wretched.”
“Why so, mother? Have you heard anything against her?”
“Against her! well; I will not say that, for I do not wish to say anything against any young woman. But do you know who she is, Luke; and who her mother is? They are quite poor people.”
“And is that against them?”
“Not against their moral character certainly, but it is against them in considering the expediency of a connection with them. You would hardly wish to marry out of your own station. I am told that the mother lives in a little cottage, quite in a humble sphere, and that the sister—”
“I intend to marry neither the mother nor the sister; but Rachel Ray I do intend to marry—if she will have me. If I had been left to myself I should not have told you of this till I had found myself to be successful; as you have asked me I have not liked to deceive you. But, mother, do not speak against her if you can say nothing worse of her than that she is poor.”
“You misunderstand me, Luke.”
“I hope so. I do not like to think that that objection should be made by you.”
“Of course it is an objection, but it is not the one which I meant to make. There may be many a young lady whom it would be quite fitting that you should wish to marry even though she had not got a shilling. It would be much pleasanter of course that the lady should have something, though I should never think of making any serious objection about that. But what I should chiefly look to would be the young lady herself, and her position in life.”
“The young lady herself would certainly be the main thing,” said Luke.
“That’s what I say;—the young lady herself and her position in life. Have you made any inquiries?”
“Yes, I have;—and am almost ashamed of myself for doing so.”
“I have no doubt Mrs. Ray is very respectable, but the sort of people who are her friends are not your friends. Their most particular friends are the farmer’s family that lives near them.”
“How was it then that Mrs. Cornbury took her to the party?”
“Ah, yes; I can explain that. And Mrs. Tappitt has told me how sorry she is that people should have been deceived by what has occurred.” Luke Rowan’s brow grew black as Mrs. Tappitt’s name was mentioned, but he said nothing and his mother continued her speech. “Her girls have been very kind to Miss Ray, inviting her to walk with them and all that sort of thing, because of her being so much alone without any companions of her own.”
“Oh, that has been it, has it? I thought she had the farmer’s family out near where she lived.”
“If you choose to listen to me, Luke, I shall be obliged to you, but if you take me up at every word in that way, of course I must leave you.” Then she paused, but as Luke said nothing she went on with her discourse. “It was in that way that she came to know the Miss Tappitts, and then one of them, the youngest I think, asked her to come to the party. It was very indiscreet; but Mrs. Tappitt did not like to go back from her daughter’s word, and so the girl
