"Mr. Dawson," I said, "can you tell me where Nora is? I
want to write to her, to bring her back."
"I know," he answered, "but she will not come back yet awhile. She has,
by her own wish and desire, gone to school, to a convent. She had
schooling enough for me, God knows, in her tender and faithful heart;
but she is as obstinate as any creature ever was when she thinks a thing
is right. So I have to wait, very much against my will, while the nuns
make a lady of Nora. It is her own phrase. I have assured her that she
is a better lady than most ladies I have known, and that I am not a
gentleman. But she would banish me and try my patience."
"Meaning----?"
"Meaning--that she will marry me when she has acquired the thing she
desires. Meaning--I would have married her, Bawn, without love, because
they blackened her, the innocent soul, for her mercy to me. But I have
learned to love her. She holds my heart against all women. I am not
hideous to her."
"And your mother?"
"Is enchanted. We are going to sell Damerstown and live in England. It
will give us all a better chance. Good-bye, Miss Bawn, for we shall not
meet again."
It made a nine days' wonder when the people heard that Richard Dawson
had married Nora Brady; but that was a year later, and Damerstown was
shut up and to be let.
Pages:
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275