Was it true that she had never cared for any one else? He had her father's
word for that; but he know that Marmaduke Lovel was a selfish man, who
would be likely enough to say anything that would conduce to his own
advantage. Had her heart been really true and pure when he won her for his
wife? He remembered those sketches of George Fairfax in the portfolio, and
one day when he was waiting for Clarissa in her morning-room he took the
trouble to look over her drawings. There were many that he recollected
having seen that day at Mill Cottage, but the portraits of Mr. Fairfax were
all gone. He looked through the portfolio very carefully, but found none of
those careless yet life-like sketches which had attracted the attention of
Sophia Granger.
"She has destroyed them, I suppose," he said to himself; and the notion of
her having done so annoyed him a little. He did not care to question her
about them. There would have been an absurdity in that, he thought: as
if it could matter to him whose face she chose for her unstudied
sketches--mere vagabondage of the pencil.
Upon rare occasions Marmaduke Lovel consented to take a languid share in
the festivities at Arden. But although he was very well pleased that his
daughter should be mistress of the house that he had lost, he did not
relish a secondary position in the halls of his forefathers; nor had the
gaieties of the place any charm for him.
Pages:
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423