'
'She was his sister. That was quite another thing. Indeed, Connie,'
said Miss Hacket, more earnestly, 'I am quite sure that you will use
your influence--and you have a great deal of influence, you know--most
kindly by persuading this dear child to be happy with the Merrifields
and submit to their arrangements.'
'You are infatuated with Lady Merrifield,' muttered Constance. 'Ah!
how little you know!'
Here the first warning note of the bell ended the discussion, and
Constance did not think it necessary to tell her sister of the offer
she had made to Dolores. In her eyes, Mary, who was the eldest of the
family, had always been of the dull, grown-up, authoritative faction of
the elders, while she herself was still one of the sweet junior party,
full of antagonism to them, and ready to elude them in any way.
Besides, she had promised her darling Dolores; and the thing was quite
romantic; nor could any one call it blame-worthy, since it was nothing
like a lover--not even a young man, but only a persecuted uncle in
distress.
So she awaited anxiously the next Sunday when Dolores's letter was to
be written in her room. To tell the truth, Dolores could quite as
easily have written in her own, and brought down the letter in her
pocket, if she had been eager about the matter; but she was not, except
under the influence of making a grievance. She had never written to
Uncle Alfred in her life, nor he to her; and his visits to her mother
had always led to something uncomfortable.
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