one long sigh, as this new subject for sorrow was so distinctly put before her.
'Is that so odd?' said Mary. 'You love Mr. Oriel, though you have been intimate with him hardly more than two years. Is it so odd that I should love your brother, whom I have known almost all my life?'
'But, Mary, I thought it was always understood between us that—that—I mean that you were not to care about him; not in the way of loving him, you know—I thought you always said so—I have always told mamma so as if it came from yourself.'
'Beatrice, do not tell anything to Lady Arabella as though it came from me; I do n t want anything to be told to her, either of me or from me. Say what you like to me yourself; whatever you will say will not anger me. Indeed, I know what you would say— and yet I love you. Oh, I love you, Trichy—Trichy, I do love you so much! Don't turn away from me!'
There was such a mixture in Mary's manner of tenderness and almost ferocity, that poor Beatrice could hardly follow her. 'Turn away from you, Mary! no, never; but this does make me unhappy.'
'It is better you should know it all, and then you will not be led into fighting my battles again. You cannot fight them so that I should win: I do love your brother; love him truly, fondly, tenderly. I would wish to have him for my husband as you wish to have Mr. Oriel.'
'But, Mary, you cannot marry him!'
'Why not?' said she, in a loud voice. 'Why can I not marry him? If the priest says a blessing over us, shall we not be married as well as you and your husband?'
'But you know he cannot marry unless his wife shall have money.'
'Money—money; and he is to sell himself for money! Oh, Trichy! do not you talk about money. It is horrible. But, Trichy, I will grant it—I cannot marry him; but still, I love him. He has a name, a place in the world, and fortune, family, high blood, position, everything. He has all this, and I have nothing. Of course I cannot marry him. But yet I love him.'
'Are you engaged to him, Mary?'
'He is not engaged to me; but I am to him.'
'Oh, Mary, that is impossible!'
'It is not impossible: it is the case—I am pledged to him; but he is not pledged to me.'
'But, Mary, don't look at me in that way. I do not quite understand you. What is the good of your being engaged if you cannot marry him?'
