But you know I could never marry you without papa's
consent."
"Of course not; but, what I fear, he might wish you to marry somebody
else."
"Then I should refuse. I will never break my word to you, cousin. I am
not in love with you, you are too young for that--but somehow I feel I
could not make you unhappy. Can't you trust my word? You might. I come
of the same people as you. Why do you look so pale?--we are very
unhappy."
Then the tears began to steal down her cheeks; and Compton's soon
followed.
Compton consulted his mother. She told him, with a sigh, she was
powerless. Sir Charles might yield to her, but she had no power to
influence Mr. Bassett at present. "The time may come," said she. She
could not take a very serious view of this amour, except with regard to
its pacific results. So Mr. Bassett's opposition chilled her in the
matter.
While things were so, something occurred that drove all these minor
things out of her distracted heart.
One summer evening, as she and Sir Charles and Compton sat at dinner, a
servant came in to say there was a stranger at the door, and he called
himself Bassett.
"What is he like?" said Lady Bassett, turning pale.
"He looks like a foreigner, my lady. He says he is Mr. Bassett,"
repeated the man, with a scandalized air.
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