se Lady Laura has
refused to marry Sherbrooke, and broken off the proposed alliance
between our families, it would make me angry to find she had placed
her affections anywhere else. But I tell you no, Wilton! Quite the
contrary is the case. The discovery that she has done so, at once
banished all the anger and indignation that I felt. If with a free
heart she had so decidedly refused my son, I should have considered
it as little less than an insult to my whole family, and, in fact,
did consider it so till Sherbrooke himself expressed his belief that
she was, and has been for some time, attached to you. His words
instantly recalled to my memory all that I had remarked before, how
the colour came up into her cheek whenever you approached her, how
her eye brightened at every word you said. That made the matter very
different. I could not expect the poor young lady to sacrifice her
first affection to please me: nor could I wish her, as you may well
imagine, to marry Sherbrooke, loving you. This is the reason that
makes me say that you are a most fortunate man; for the service that
you have rendered her, the immense and important service, gives you
such a claim upon her gratitude, as to make it easy for her at once
to avow her attachment. It gives you an enormous claim upon the Duke,
too; and I have one or two little holds upon that nobleman which he
knows not of--by which, indeed, he might be not a little injured, if
I were a revengeful man, but which I shall only use for your best
interests."
"But, my lord," replied Wilton, "you seem totally to forget my humble
birth and station. How--situated as I am--could I dare to ask the
Duke for his daughter's hand, the only remaining child of such a
house, the heiress of such immense wealth?"
"Fear not, fear not, Wilton," said the Earl, laying his hand upon his
arm. "Fear not: your blood is as good as the Duke's own; your family,
older and as noble."
"I have sometimes thought, my lord," replied Wilton, wishing to gain
as much information as possible--"I have sometimes thought, in the
utter ignorance wherein I have been left of my own history, that I am
the son of one who has indeed been a father to me, Lord Sunbury,--the
natural son, I mean."
"Oh no!" cried the Earl, with an air almost of indignation: "you are
no relation of his whatsoever. I knew not who you were when you first
came hither; but I have since discovered, and though at present I
must not reveal anything farther to you, I tell you, without
hesitation,