Emptying his pipe, the
lawyer found Miss Du Plessis and at once announced Mr. Rawdon's
proposal, which he urged her not to accept. She said the land was
certainly not worth any more, if it were worth that amount, and that a
thousand dollars would be of much immediate use to her mother. But
Coristine reminded her that Colonel Morton was, in all probability, with
her mother now, and begged her at least to wait until their joint
opinion could be procured. To this she agreed, and further conversation
was checked by the arrival of Marjorie, the five young Carruthers and
Mr. Michael Terry.
The whole party sallied out of the windows on to the verandah, the lawn,
and thence out of the front gate, where they found the dominie in a
state of radiant abstraction, strutting up and down the road, and
quoting pages of his favourite poet. He had just completed the lines:--
And yet a spirit still, and bright
With something of an angel light.
The lawyer went up to him before he came near and hissed at his friend,
"What about our compact?" to which the dominie, with a fierce
cheerfulness, replied, "It is broken, sir; shivered to atoms; buried in
oblivion.
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