could not escape had been applied to him on this journey, by
fortune--and Elizabeth!--and that he was not standing it well. And the
worst of it was that as his discouragement in the matter of Lady Merton
increased, so also did his distaste for this raw, new country, without
associations, without art, without antiquities, in which he should
never, never have chosen to spend one of his summers of this short life,
but for the charms of Elizabeth! And the more boredom he was conscious
of, the less congenial and sympathetic, naturally, did he become as a
companion for Lady Merton. Of this he was dismally aware. Well! he
hoped, bitterly, that she knew what she was about, and could take care
of herself. This man she had made friends with was good-looking and, by
his record, possessed ability. He had fairly gentlemanly manners, also;
though, in Delaine's opinion, he was too self-confident on his own
account, and too boastful on Canada's, But he was a man of humble
origin, son of a farmer who seemed, by the way, to be dead; and
grandson, so Delaine had heard him say, through his mother, of one of
the Selkirk settlers of 1812--no doubt of some Scotch gillie or
shepherd. Such a person, in England, would have no claim whatever to the
intimate society of Elizabeth Merton. Yet here she was alone, really
without protection--for what use was this young, scatter-brained
brother?--herself only twenty-seven, and so charming? so much prettier
than she had ever seemed to be at home. It was a dangerous situation--a
situation to which she ought not to have been exposed. Delaine had
always believed her sensitive and fastidious; and in his belief all
women should be sensitive and fastidious, especially as to who are, and
who are not, their social equals. But it was clear he had not quite
understood her. And this man whom they had picked up was undoubtedly
handsome, strong and masterful, of the kind that the natural woman
admires. But then he--Delaine--had never thought of Elizabeth Merton as
the natural woman. There lay the disappointment.