And
then women who have had one husband already are not like young girls in
respect to their hearts. So at least thought Frank Greystock. Then he
remembered the time at which he had intended to ask Lizzie to be his wife
--the very day on which he would have done so had he been able to get away
from that early division at the House--and he asked himself whether he
felt any regret on that score. It would have been very nice to come down
to Portray Castle as to his own mansion after the work of the courts and
of the session. Had Lizzie become his wife, her fortune would have helped
him to the very highest steps beneath the throne. At present he was almost
nobody--because he was so poor, and in debt. It was so, undoubtedly; but
what did all that matter in comparison with the love of Lucy Morris? A man
is bound to be true. And he would be true. Only, as a matter of course,
Lucy must wait.
When he had first kissed his cousin up in London, she suggested that the
kiss was given as by a brother, and asserted that it was accepted as by a
sister. He had not demurred, having been allowed the kiss. Nothing of the
kind had been said under the rocks to-day; but then that fraternal
arrangement, when once made and accepted, remains, no doubt, in force for
a long time.
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