"Not too high," repeated Lady Lancaster, sagely. "The lords of
Lancaster have married earls' daughters before to-day."
"Yes, in their palmy days," said Clive Lancaster; "but not now, when
their patrimony is wasted, their lands encumbered with taxes, and their
last descendant earning a paltry living in her majesty's service."
"Lady Adela is as poor as you are," said the withered old woman,
significantly.
"No?"
"Yes."
"But I thought that the Earl of Eastwood was very rich."
"He was once; but he and his spendthrift sons have made ducks and
drakes of the money at the gaming-table. Lady Adela will have no
portion at all. She will be compelled to marry a fortune."
"So you have placed yours at her disposal?" he said, with hardly
repressed scorn.
"Yes," coolly, "if she takes my nephew with it. But, seriously, Clive,
it is the best match for you both. You will have money; she has beauty
and exalted station. Married to each other, you two will be a power
in the social world; apart, neither of you will count for much. You
will have rank, but that will be a mere incumbrance to you without the
ability to sustain its dignity properly."
"If you only knew how little I care for social power," he said. "The
life of a soldier suits me. I have no great ambition for wealth and
power."
"You are no true Lancaster if you are willing to let the old name and
the old place run down!" she broke out, indignantly. "Ah, I wish that I
might have borne a son to my husband! Then this degenerate scion of a
noble race need never have been roused from his _dolce far niente_ to
sustain its ancient glory."
His lip curled in cold disdain of her wild ranting.
"At least the old name will never be dishonored by me," he said. "I
have led a life that no one can cry shame upon. My record is pure."
Glancing at his flushed face and proud eyes, she saw that she had gone
too far. She did not want to rouse that defiant mood inherent in all
the Lancasters. She was afraid of it.
"I was hasty," she said. "Forgive me, Clive. But I am so anxious to
have you fall in with my plans. I have no kin of my own, and I am
anxious to leave my money to you, the heir of my late husband's title.
If you fall in with my views I shall give you from the day of your
marriage ten thousand a year, and after my death the whole income shall
be yours. If you cross me, if you decline to marry as I wish you to
do, I shall hunt up other Lancasters--there are distant connections in
London, I think--and I shall leave everything to them instead of to
you."
Her black eyes glittered with menace, and there was an evil, triumphant
smile on her thin, cruel lips. She knew the extent of her power, and
was bent on using it to the full.
"Money is a good thing to have, Aunt Lydia. I should like to have yours
when you are done with it, I don't deny that," he said. "There may be
some things better than money, if," slowly, "one could have them, but--"
"Better than money?" she interrupted, angry and sarcastic, and
frightened all at once, for fear that he was about to refuse her. "Pray
tell me what those desirable things may be."
"You did not hear me out," he answered, calmly. "I was about to say
there might be, but I was not sure. We will not discuss that unknown
quantity."
"I think not," she answered, dryly. "It might be more pertinent to
discuss Lady Adela now. What do you say, Clive? Shall you pay your
court to her?"
A deep red flushed all over his fair, handsome face.
"She might decline the honor," he said.
"Pshaw! she might be a fool, but she isn't," said my lady, sharply.
"She will not decline. She has an inkling of what I mean to do. I have
talked with the earl. He thinks it would be a pleasant and pertinent
arrangement for the house of Lancaster. You know you have to think of
your heirs, Clive, and to do the best you can for their future."
"Yes," he said, sarcastically.
"Well, now I have told you all my hopes and plans, Clive, I want to
know what you are going to do. There is no use beating about the bush,"
said my lady, sharply.
"I am going to make Lady Adela's acquaintance before I make up my
mind," he answered, undauntedly.
"You will fall in love with her. She is a great beauty," my lady said,
confidently, as he bowed himself out.