"Yes, but, your mother," murmured Nora very softly and timidly.
"You too! Decidedly that word is infectious, like yawning! Well, my
dears, since you will bring it on the tapis, let us discuss and dismiss
it. My mother is a very fine woman, Hannah; but she is unreasonable,
Nora. She is attached to what she calls her 'order,' my dears, and never
would consent to my marriage with any other than a lady of rank and
wealth."
"Then you must give up Nora, Mr. Brudenell," said Hannah gravely.
"Yes, indeed," assented poor Nora, under her breath, and turning pale.
"May the Lord give me up if I do!" cried the young man impetuously.
"You will never defy your mother," said Hannah.
"Oh, no! oh, no! I should be frightened to death," gasped Nora,
trembling between weakness and fear.
"No, I will never defy my mother; there are other ways of doing things;
I must marry Nora, and we must keep the affair quiet for a time."
"I do not understand you," said Hannah coldly.
"Nora does, though! Do you not, my darling?" exclaimed Herman
triumphantly.
And the blushing but joyous face of Nora answered him.
"You say you will not defy your mother. Do you mean then to deceive her,
Mr. Brudenell?" inquired the elder sister severely.
"Hannah, don't be abusive! This is just the whole matter, in brief. I am
twenty-one, master of myself and my estate. I could marry Nora at any
time, openly, without my mother's consent. But that would give her great
pain. It would not kill her, nor make her ill, but it would wound her in
her tenderest points--her love of her son, and her love of rank; it
would produce an open rupture between us. She would never forgive me,
nor acknowledge my wife."
"Then why do you speak at all of marrying Nora?" interrupted Hannah
angrily.
Herman turned and looked at Nora. That mute look was his only answer,
and it was eloquent; it said plainly what his lips forbore to speak: "I
have won her love, and I ought to marry her; for if I do not, she will
die."
Then he continued as if Hannah had not interrupted him: "I wish to get on as easily as I can between these conflicting
difficulties. I will not wrong Nora, and I will not grieve my mother.
The only way to avoid doing either will be for me to marry my darling
privately, and keep the affair a secret until a fitting opportunity
offers to publish it."