"Oh, Heavens!" exclaimed Victor, who had stationed himself behind
Edith. "Forty niggers at Collingwood! Mr. Harrington never would
stand that. Leave them here."
Arthur smiled at the Frenchman's evident distress, while Edith
made a gesture that Victor should be still, and then continued,
"It may be better to leave them here for a time at least, and Mr.
Harrington shall decide upon their future home."
She said this naturally, and as a matter of course, but her heart
leaped to her throat when she saw the pallor which for an instant
overspread Arthur's face at her allusion to one who would soon
have the right to rule her and hers.
"Is Mr. Harrington your guardian, Miss Bernard?" the lawyer asked,
and ere Edith could reply, Arthur answered for her, "He is to be
her husband."
The lawyer bowed and went on with his writing, all unconscious of
the wounds his question had tore open, leaving them to bleed
afresh as both Arthur and Edith assumed a mask of studied
indifference, never looking at or addressing each other again
while that painful interview lasted.
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