“Oh, do not smile! He or I; you have no other alternative. Sooner or
later you will have to choose.”
“I shall not choose, sir.”
“Oh, just wait till poverty has come! Then you think, perhaps, you will
only need to implore your father to come to your assistance. Do not
flatter yourself. Your father has no other will but that of the Countess
Sarah; and the Countess Sarah will have it so, that you marry Sir
Thorn.”
“I shall not appeal to my father, sir.”
“Then you probably count upon Daniel’s return? Ah, believe me! do not
indulge in such dreams. I have told you Daniel loves the Countess Sarah;
and, even if he did not love her, you have been too publicly disgraced
for him ever to give you his name. But that is nothing yet. Go to the
navy department, and they will tell you that ‘The Conquest’ is out on a
cruise of two years more. At the time when Daniel returns, if he returns
at all (which is very far from being certain), you will long since have
become Mrs. Elgin or Madame de Brevan, unless”--
Henrietta looked at him so fixedly, that he could not bear the glance;
and then she said in a deep voice,--
“Unless I die! did you not mean that? Be it so.”