Hardie? He has declined our alliance because he takes for granted we are poor. When I undeceive him on that head he will reopen _negotiations_ in a letter--No. 2 of the correspondence; copied by one of his clerks--it will be calm, plausible, flattering: in short, it will be done like a gentleman: though he is nothing of the kind. And this brings me to what Iought to have begun with: your dear father and I have always lived with our income for our children's sake; he is bringing home the bulk of our savings this very voyage, and it amounts to fourteen thousand pounds.""Oh, what an enormous sum!""No, dearest, it is not a fortune in itself. But it is a considerable sum to possess, independent of one's settlement and one's income. It is loose cash, to speak _a la_ Hardie; that means I can do what I choose with it and of course I choose--to make you happy. How I shall work on what you call Iron and I venture to call Clay must be guided by circumstances. Ithink of depositing three or four thousand pounds every month with Mr.
Hardie; he is our banker, you know. He will most likely open his eyes, and make some move before the whole sum is in his hands. If he does not, I shall perhaps call at his bank, and draw a cheque for fourteen thousand pounds. The wealthiest provincial banker does not keep such a sum floating in his shop-tills. His commercial honour, the one semi-chivalrous sentiment in his soul, would be in peril. He would yield, and with grace: none the less readily that his house and his bank, which have been long heavily mortgaged to our trustees, were made virtually theirs by agreement yesterday (I set this on foot with twelve hours of Mr. Iron's impertinent letter), and he will say to himself, 'She can--post me, I think these people call it--this afternoon for not cashing her cheque,, and she can turn me and my bank into the street to-morrow:' and then, of course, he shall see by my manner the velvet paw is offered as well as the claw. He is pretty sure to ask himself which will suit the _ledger_ best--this cat's friendship and her fourteen thousand pounds, or--an insulted mother's enmity?" And Mrs. Placid's teeth made a little click just audible in the silent night "Oh, mamma! my heart is sick. Am I to be bought and sold like this?"Mrs. Dodd sighed, but said calmly, "You must pay the penalty for loving a _parvenu's_ son. Come, Julia, no peevishness, no more romance, no more vacillation. You have tried Pride and failed pitiably: now I insist on your trying Love! Child, it is the bane of our *** to carry nothing out:
from that weakness I will preserve you. And, by-the-bye, we are not going to marry Mr. Richard Hardie, but Mr. Alfred. Now, Mr. Alfred, with all his faults and defects--""Mamma! what faults? what defects?""--Is a gentleman; thanks to Oxford, and Harrow, and nature. My darling, pray to Heaven night and day for your dear father's safe return; for on him, and him alone, your happiness depends: as mine does.""Mamma!" cried Julia, embracing her, "what do poor girls do who have lost their mother?""Look abroad and see," was the grave reply.
Mrs. Dodd then begged her to go to sleep, like a good child, for her health's sake; all would be well; and with this was about to return to her own room; but a white hand and arm darted out of the bed and caught her. "What! Hope has come to me by night in the form of an angel, and shall I let her go back to her own room? Never! never! never! never!
never!" And she patted the bed expressively, and with the prettiest impatience.
"Well, let Hope take off her earrings first," suggested Mrs. Dodd.
"No, no, come here directly, earrings and all.""No, thank you; or I shall have _them_ wounding you next."Mrs. Hope quietly removed her earrings, and the tender pair passed the rest of the night in one another's arms. The young girl's tears were dried; and hope revived, and life bloomed again: only, henceforth her longing eyes looked out to sea for her father, homeward bound.
Next day, as they were seated together in the drawing-room, Julia came from the window with a rush, and kneeled at Mrs. Dodd's knees, with bright imploring face upturned.
"He is there; and--I am to speak to him? Is that it?""Dear, dear, dear mamma!" was the somewhat oblique reply.
"Well, then, bring me my things."