'Neither can I. But you are a woman and might know better than I do. It is so hard that a man should be left with the charge of which from its very nature he cannot understand the duties.' Then he paused, but she could find no words which would suit the moment. It was almost incredible to her that after what had passed he should speak to her at all as to the condition of his daughter.
'I cannot, you know,' he said very seriously, 'encourage a hope that she should be allowed to marry that man.'
'I do not know.'
'You yourself, Mrs Finn, felt that when she told about it at Matching.'
'I felt that you would disapprove of it.'
'Disapprove of it! How could it be otherwise? Of course you felt that. There are ranks in life in which the first comer that suits a maiden's eye may be accepted as a flirting lover. I will not say but that they who are born to such a life may be the happier. They are, I am sure, free from troubles to which they are incident whom fate has called to a different sphere. But duty is duty;--and whatever pang it may cost, duty should be performed.'
'Certainly.'
'Certainly;--certainly; certainly,' he said, re-echoing her word.
'But then, Duke, one has to be so sure what duty requires. In many matters this is easy enough, and the only difficulty comes from temptation. There are cases in which it is hard to know.'
'Is this one of them?'
'I think so.'
'Then the maiden should--in any class of life--be allowed to take the man that just suits her eye?' As he said this his mind was intent on his Glencora and on Burgo Fitzgerald.
'I have not said so. A man may be bad, vicious, a spendthrift,--eaten up by bad habits.' Then he frowned, thinking that she also had her mind intent on his Glencora and on that Burgo Fitzgerald, and being most unwilling to have the difference between Burgo and Frank Tregear pointed out to him. 'Nor have I said,' she continued, 'that even were none of these faults apparent in the character of a suitor, the lady should in all cases be advised to accept a young man because he has made himself agreeable to her.
There may be discrepancies.'
'There are,' said he, still with a low voice, but with infinite energy,--'insurmountable discrepancies.'
'I only said that this was a case in which it might be difficult for you to see your duty plainly.'
'Why should it be?'
'You would not have her--break her heart?' Then he was silent for awhile, turning over in his mind the proposition which now seemed to have been made to him. If the question came to that,--should she be allowed to break her heart and die, or should he save her from that fate by sanctioning her marriage with Tregear? If the choice could be put to him plainly by some supernal power, what then would he choose? If duty required him to prevent this marriage, his duty could not be altered by the fact that his girl would avenge herself upon him by dying! If such a marriage were in itself wrong, that wrong could not be made right by the fear of such a catastrophe. Was it not often the case that duty required that someone should die? And yet as he thought of it,--though that the someone whom his mind had suggested was the one female creature now left belonging to him,--he put his hand up to his brow and trembled with agony. If he knew, if in truth he believed that such would be the result of firmness on his part,--then he would be infirm, then must he yield. Sooner than that, he must welcome this Tregear to his house. But why should he think that she would die?
This woman had now asked him whether he would be willing to break his girl's heart. It was a frightful question; but he could see that it had come naturally in the sequence of the conversation which he had forced upon her. Did girls break their hearts in such emergencies? Was it not all romance? 'Men have died and worms have eaten them,--but not for love.' He remembered it all and carried on the argument in his mind, though the pause was but for a minute. There might be suffering no doubt. The higher the duties the keener the pangs! But would it become him to be deterred from doing right because she for a time might find that she had made the world bitter for herself? And were there not feminine wiles,--tricks by which women learn how to have their way in opposition to the judgement of their lords and masters? He did not think that his Mary was wilfully guilty of any scheme. The suffering he knew was true suffering. But not the less did it become him to be on his guard against any attacks of this nature.
'No,' he said at last. 'I would not have her break her heart,--if I understand what such words mean. They are generally, I think, used fantastically.'
'You would not wish to see her overwhelmed by sorrow.'
'Wish it! What a question to ask a father!'
'I must be more plain in my language, Duke. Though such a marriage be distasteful to you, it might perhaps be preferable to see her sorrowing always.'
'Why should it? I have to sorrow always. We are told that man is born to sorrow as surely as the sparks fly upwards.'
'Then I can say nothing further.'
'You think I am cruel.'
'If I am to say what I really think I shall offend you.'
'No;--not unless you mean offence.'
'I shall never do that to you, Duke. When you talk as you do now you hardly know yourself. You think you could see her suffering and not be moved by it. But were it to be continued long you would give way. Though we know that there is an infinity of grief in this life, still we struggle to save those we love from grieving.
If she be steadfast enough to cling to her affection for this man, then at last you will have to yield.' He looked at her frowning, but did not say a word. 'Then it will perhaps be a comfort for you to know that the man himself is trustworthy and honest.'