Her face turned ashy white; but whether it was from conscience or fear, or only with rage, who could tell!
She was silent for a moment. Then again recovering herself,--
“And what, pray, would you make of me?” she said coolly. “Your slave?”
“I would have you an honest woman! I would die for that!--Oh, mother! mother!” he cried bitterly.
“That being apparently impossible, what else does my dutiful son demand of his mother?”
“That she should leave me unmolested in my choice of a wife. It does not seem to me an unreasonable demand!”
“Nor does it seem to me an unreasonable reply, that any mother would object to her son's marrying a girl whose father she could throw into a felon's-prison with a word!”
“That the girl does not happen to be the daughter of the gentleman you mean, signifies nothing: I am very willing she should pass for such. But take care. He is ready to meet whatever you have to say. He is not gone for his own sake, but to be out of the way of our happiness--to prevent you from blasting us with a public scandal. If you proceed in your purpose, we shall marry at once, and make your scheme futile.”
“Madam, that is my business,” answered John.
“Are you aware of the penalty on your marrying without my consent?” pursued his mother.
“I am not. I do not believe there is any such penalty.”
“Marry, then, and take the consequences.”
“If there were any, you would not thus warn me of them.”
“I shall not ask your definition of a gentleman, madam.”
“If my father were present, he would show himself a gentleman by making you no answer. If you say a word more against him, I will leave the room.”
“I tell you your father was a clown and a fool--like yourself!”
John turned and went to the stable, had old Sturdy saddled, and came to me.
On his way over the heath, he spent an hour trying to find the place where he had been the night before, but without success. I presume that Sturdy, with his nose in that direction, preferred his stall, and did not choose to find the quarry. As often as John left him to himself, he went homeward. When John turned his head in another direction, he would set out in that direction, but gradually work round for the farm.
John told me all I have just set down, and then we talked.