While Lady Arabella opened her budget the squire sat quite silent, listening to her with appropriate respect. She found it necessary that her description to him should be much more elaborate than that which she had vouchsafed to her daughter, and, in telling her grievance, she insisted most especially on the personal insult which had been offered to herself.
'After what has now happened,' said she, not quite able to repress a tone of triumph as she spoke, 'I do expect, Mr Gresham, that you will--will--'
'Will what, my dear?'
'Will at least protect me from the repetition of such treatment.'
'You are not afraid that Dr Thorne will come here and attack you? As far as I can understand, he never comes near the place, unless you send for him.'
'No; I do not think that he will come to Greshamsbury any more. I believe I have put a stop to that.'
'Then what is it, my dear, that you want me to do?'
Lady Arabella paused a minute before she replied. The game which she now had to play was not very easy; she knew, or thought she knew, that her husband, in his heart of hearts, much preferred his friend to the wife of his bosom, and that he would, if he could, shuffle out of noticing the doctor's iniquities. It behoved her, therefore, to put them forward in such a way that they must be noticed.
'I suppose, Mr Gresham, you do not wish that Frank should marry the girl?'
'I do not think there is the slightest chance of such a thing; and I am quite sure that Dr Thorne would not encourage it.'
'But I tell you, Mr Gresham, that he says he will encourage it.'
'Oh, you misunderstand him.'
'Of course; I always misunderstand everything. I know that. I misunderstood it when I told you how you would distress yourself if you took those nasty hounds.'
'I have had other troubles more expensive than the hounds,' said the poor squire, sighing.
'Oh, yes; I know what you mean; a wife and family are expensive, of course. It is a little too late to complain of that.'
'My dear, it is always too late to complain of any troubles when they are no longer to be avoided. We need not, therefore, talk any more about hounds at present.'
'I do not wish to speak of them, Mr Gresham.'
'Nor I.'
'But I hope you will not think me unreasonable if I am anxious to know what you intend to do about Dr Thorne.'
'To do?'
'Yes; I suppose you will do something: you do not wish to see your son marry such a girl as Mary Thorne.'
'As far as the girl herself is concerned,' said the squire, turning rather red, 'I am not sure that he could do much better. I know nothing whatever against Mary. Frank, however, cannot afford to make such a match. It would be his ruin.'
'Of course it would; utter ruin; he never could hold up his head again. Therefore it is I ask, What do you intend to do?'
The squire was bothered. He had no intention whatever of doing anything, an no belief in his wife's assertion as to Dr Thorne's iniquity. But he did not know how to get her out of the room. She asked him the same question over and over again, and on each occasion urged on him the heinousness of the insult to which she personally had been subjected; so that at last he was driven to ask her what it was she wished him to do.
'Well, then, Mr Gresham, if you ask me, I must say, that I think you should abstain from any intercourse with Dr Thorne whatever.'
'Break off all intercourse with him?'
'Yes.'
'What do you mean? He has been turned out of this house, and I'm not to go to see him at his own.'
'I certainly think that you ought to discontinue your visits to Dr Thorne altogether.'
'Nonsense, my dear; absolute nonsense.'
'Nonsense! Mr Gresham; it is no nonsense. As you speak in that way, I must let you know plainly what I feel. I am endeavouring to do my duty by my son. As you justly observe, such a marriage as this would be utter ruin to him. When I found that the young people were actually talking of being in love with each other, making vows and all that sort of thing, I did think it time to interfere. I did not, however, turn them out of Greshamsbury as you accuse me of doing. In the kindest possible manner--'
'Well--well--well; I know all that. There, they are gone, and that's enough. I don't complain; surely that ought to be enough.'
'Enough! Mr Gresham. No; it is not enough. I find that, in spite of what has occurred, the closest intimacy exists between the two families; that poor Beatrice, who is so very young, and not so prudent as she should be, is made to act as a go-between; and when I speak to the doctor, hoping that he will assist me in preventing this, he not only tells me that he means to encourage Mary in her plans, but positively insults me to my face, laughs at me for being an earl's daughter, and tells me--yes, he absolutely told me--to get out of his house.'
Let it be told with some shame as to the squire's conduct, that his first feeling on hearing this was one of envy--of envy and regret that he could not make the same uncivil request. Not that he wished to turn his wife absolutely out of his house; but he would have been very glad to have had the power of dismissing her summarily from his own room.
This, however, was at present impossible; so he was obliged to make some mild reply.
'You must have mistaken him, my dear. He could not have intended to say that.'
'Oh! of course, Mr Gresham. It is a mistake, of course. It will be a mistake, only a mistake when you find your son married to Mary Thorne.'
'Well, my dear, I cannot undertake to quarrel with Dr Thorne.' This was true; for the squire could hardly have quarrelled with Dr Thorne, even had he wished it.
'Then I think it right to tell you that I shall. And, Mr Gresham, I did not expect much co-operation from you; but I did think that you would have shown some little anger when you heard that I had been so ill-treated. I shall, however, know how to take care of myself; and I shall continue to do the best I can to protect Frank from these wicked intrigues.'
