from the bridegroom her mother averred she did love, Mrs. Doria might
have been defeated. But Ralph in his cavalry quarters was cooler than
Ralph in the Bursley meadows. "Women are oddities, Dick," he remarked,
running a finger right and left along his upper lip. "Best leave them to
their own freaks. She's a dear girl, though she doesn't talk: I like her
for that. If she cared for me I'd go the race. She never did. It's no
use asking a girl twice. She knows whether she cares a fig for a
fellow."

The hero quitted him with some contempt, As Ralph Morton was a young man,
and he had determined that John Todhunter was an old man, he sought
another private interview with Clare, and getting her alone, said:
"Clare, I've come to you for the last time. Will you marry Ralph
Morton?"

To which Clare replied, "I cannot marry two husbands, Richard."

"Will you refuse to marry this old man?"

"I must do as mama wishes."

"Then you're going to marry an old man--a man you don't love, and can't
love! Oh, good God! do you know what you're doing?" He flung about in a
fury. "Do you know what it is? Clare!" he caught her two hands
violently, "have you any idea of the horror you're going to commit?"

She shrank a little at his vehemence, but neither blushed nor stammered:
answering: "I see nothing wrong in doing what mama thinks right,
Richard."