I am now Lord Caranby."
"You won't grace the position," said Mrs. Octagon viciously,
and then her face became gloomy. "Dead!--Walter Mallow.
Ah! I loved him so."
"You had a strange way of showing it then," said Cuthbert,
calmly, and he also took a seat.
Mrs. Octagon immediately rose. "I forbid you to sit down in
my house, Lord Caranby. We are strangers."
"Oh, no, we aren't, Mrs. Octagon. I came here to arrange
matters."
"What matters?" she asked disdainfully, and apparently certain
he had nothing against her.
"Matters connected with my marriage with Juliet."
"Miss Saxon, if you please. She shall never marry you."
"Oh, yes, she will. What is your objection to the marriage?"
"I refuse to tell you," said Mrs. Octagon violently, and then
somewhat inconsistently went on:
"If you must know, I hated your uncle."
"You said you loved him just now."
"And so I did," cried the woman, spreading out her arms, "I
loved him intensely. I would have placed the hair of my head
under his feet. But he was never worthy of me. He loved
Selina, a poor, weak, silly fool. But I stopped that
marriage," she ended triumphantly, "as I will stop yours."
"I don't think you will stop mine," replied Cuthbert
tranquilly, "I am not to be coerced, Mrs. Octagon."
"I don't seek to coerce you," she retorted, "but my daughter
will obey me, and she will refuse your hand. I don't care if
you are fifty times Lord Caranby.
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