of refusing me in such a formal
manner; I would have shown her how to manage the matter without
calling down this storm. But, instead of that, she sits down and
deliberately writes him a letter, which, just in the proportion that
it is honest, true, and straightforward, is the thing best calculated
to excite his wrath. Yet, as if she had some idea of his character,
and wished to shield her father, she takes the whole responsibility
of the thing upon herself, telling him that the Duke had pressed her
much upon the subject, but that she felt it would be utterly
impossible to give her hand to your very humble servant. All this
has, of course, brought the storm more directly upon herself, though
her father will be screened thereby in no degree. I doubt not he has
gone there now."
"Do you think there is any chance of an actual and open quarrel
between them?" demanded Wilton.
"Not in the least," answered Lord Sherbrooke with a scoff: "my dear
Wilton, you must be as blind as a mole, if you do not see that my
father, though as brave as a lion, is not a man to quarrel with any
one. He is a great deal too good a politician for that; he knows that
in quarrelling with any one he hates, he must suffer something
himself, and may suffer a good deal. No, no, he takes a better plan,
and contrives to make his enemies suffer while he suffers not at all.
In general, if you see him particularly civil to anybody, you may
suppose that he looks upon them as an enemy, and is busy in getting
them quietly into his power. Quarrel with the Duke? Oh no, a thousand
to one, ere half an hour be over, he will be shaking him cordially by
the hand, putting him quite at his ease, begging him to let the
matter be forgotten altogether, saying that it was natural he should
seek so illustrious an alliance, which, indeed, he had scarcely a
right to hope for. Then he will see the lady herself, and say that he
perfectly enters into her feelings, that a person so richly gifted as
herself, and having already all that wealth and rank can give, has a
right to consult, before all other things, the feelings of her own
heart. It would not surprise me at all if he were to offer to send me
abroad again, lest my presence in London, after the pretensions which
have been formed, should prove, in any degree, annoying to her."
The conversation continued for some time longer in the same strain:
and Wilton could not but feel that Lord Sherbrooke gave an accurate
though a terrible picture of his father's charac