'Not with her senses surrendered to him, without volition of her own. I wonder by what magnetism he allowed her to tell?'
'She has gone through a great deal, poor child, and I am afraid there is much more for her to suffer, whether he recovers or not.'
'He will recover' said Charles, with the decided manner in which people prophesy the restoration of those they dislike, probably from a feeling that they must not die, till there is more charity in their opinion of them.
'Your father will be so grieved.'
'Well, I suppose we must begin to make the best of it,' said Charles. 'She has been as good as married to him these four years, for any use she has been to us; it has been only the name of the thing, so he had better--'
'My dear Charlie, what are you talking of? You don't imagine they can marry?'
'They will some time or other, for assuredly neither will marry any one else. You will see if Guy does not take up the cause, and return Philip's meddling--which, by the bye, is now shown to have been more preposterous still--by setting their affairs in order for them.'
'Dear Guy, it is a comfort not to have been deceived in him!'
'Except when you believed Philip,' said Charles.
'Could anything have been more different?' proceeded Mrs. Edmonstone; 'yet the two girls had the same training.'
'With an important exception,' said Charles; 'Laura is Philip's pupil, Amy mine; and I think her little ladyship is the best turned out of hand.'
'How shocked Amy will be! If she was but here, it would be much better, for she always had more of Laura's confidence than I. Oh, Charlie, there has been the error!' and Mrs. Edmonstone's eyes were full of tears. 'What fearful mistake have I made to miss my daughter's confidence!'
'You must not ask me, mother,' said Charles, face and voice full of affectionate emotion. 'I know too well that I have been exacting and selfish, taking too much advantage of your anxieties for me, and that if you were not enough with my sisters when they were young girls, it was my fault as much as my misfortune. But, after all, it has not hurt Amy in the least; nor do I think it will hurt Charlotte.'
Charlotte did not venture to give way to her desire to kiss her mother, and thank Charles, lest she should be exiled as an intruder.
'And,' proceeded Charles, serious, though somewhat roguish, 'I suspect that no attention would have made much difference. You were always too young, and Laura too much addicted to the physical sciences to get on together.'