And she tried to lift up the drooping head, but could not.

"Nay, dear, I was wrong to grieve you so. Please G.o.d, you two may meet again, and marry and be happy, even in this world. Come, Nathanael, you can say all this much better than I. Tell her you will be quite content, and wait any number of years. And, as to this parting, it is a right and n.o.ble sacrifice of yours; let her see how n.o.bly you will bear it."

"Ay, Agatha, I will," said the young lover firmly, as he stood before her, half stooping, half kneeling--though not quite kneeling, even then.

But his whole manner showed the crumbling away of that clear but icy surface with which nature or habit had enveloped the whole man.

Agatha lifted her head, and looked at him long and earnestly.

"I will," he repeated; "I promise you I will. Only be content--and in token that you are so, give me your hand."

She gave him both, and then leaned back again on Miss Valery's shoulder.

"Tell him--I will go with him--anywhere--at any time--if it will only make him happy."

The same night, when Nathanael and Anne Valery had left her, Agatha sat thinking, almost in a dream, yet without either sorrow or dread--that all uncertainty was now over--that this day week would be her wedding-day.

CHAPTER VIII.

"I wish, as I stated yesterday, that Miss Bowen's property should be settled entirely upon herself. This is the only course which to my thinking can reconcile a man to the humiliation of receiving a large fortune with his wife."

"An odd doctrine, truly! Where did you learn it?" laughed Major Harper, who was pacing the Bedford Square drawing-room with quick, uneasy steps; while his brother stood very quiet, only looking from time to time at the closed door. It was the Sat.u.r.day before the marriage; and Agatha's trustee had come to execute his last guardianship of her and her property. There was lying on a corner-table, pored over by a lawyer-like individual--that formidable instrument, a marriage-settlement.

"Where did I learn it?" returned Mr. Harper, smiling. "Why, where I learned most of my opinions, and everything that is good in me--with Uncle Brian. Poor Uncle Brian!" and the smile faded into grave anxiety.

"Are you really going on that mad expedition?" said the elder brother, with the air of a man who, being perturbed in his own mind, is ready to take a harsh view of everything.

"I do not think it mad--and anything short of madness I ought to undertake, and shall--for him."

"Ay," muttered the other, "there it is, Brian always made everybody love him."

"But," continued Nathanael, "as I said last night to Miss Bowen, I shall do nothing foolishly. We must hold ourselves prepared for the worst; still, if better tidings should come--though that is scarcely possible now--then perhaps"----

"You would not go!" cried Major Harper, eagerly. "Which would of course delay your marriage. How very much better that would be."

"Why so?" said the bridegroom, with a piercing look.

Frederick appeared confused, but threw it off with a laugh.

"Oh, women like a little longer courtship. They are never caught all in a minute, unless they are quite indifferent as to who catches them. And even then--'marry in haste'--you know the proverb--nay, don't be angry,"

he added, as his brother turned abruptly away. "I was only jesting; and a happy fellow like you can afford to be laughed at by a miserable old bachelor like me."

The momentary annoyance pa.s.sed. Nathanael was, indeed, too happy to be seriously vexed at anything.

"Still, for some reasons," continued Major Harper, "I wish my fair ward were not becoming my sister in such a terrible hurry. So much to be done in one week, and by a man like me who hates the very name of business; it is next to impossible but that some things should he slurred and hurried over. For instance, there was no time, Grimes said, to draw up a long deed of settlement, showing precisely where her money was invested."

"I told you I wanted nothing of the kind. I scarcely understand your English law. But can it not be stated in plain legal form--a dozen lines would surety; do it--that every farthing Agatha has is settled upon herself exclusively from the day she becomes my wife."

"That is done. I--I--in fact, Mr. Grimes had already advised such a course as being the shortest."

"Then what is the use of saying any more about it?"

"But, brother," observed Major Harper, in whose manner was perceptible a certain vague uneasiness, "if--though I a.s.sure you Grimes has transacted all these matters, and he is a sharp man of business, while I am none--still, if it would be any satisfaction to you to know particulars concerning where Miss Bowen's money is invested"--

"In the funds; and to remain there by her father's will, to I think you said."

"Precisely. It _was_ invested there," returned the brother, with an accent so light on the past tense that Nathanael, preoccupied with other things than money matters, did not observe it.

"Well, then, so let it stay. Don't let us talk any more about this matter. I trust entirely to you. To whom should I trust, if not to my own brother?"

At these hearty words Major Harper's face, quick in every mobile expression of feeling, betrayed much discomposure. He walked the room in a mood of agitation, compared to which the bridegroom's own restlessness was nothing. Then he went to the farther end of the apartment, and hurriedly read over the marriage-settlement.

"Faugh, Grimes! what balderdash is this?" he whispered angrily.

"Balderdash?--nay, downright lies!"

"Drawn up exactly as you desired, and as we arranged, Major Harper,"

answered Mr. Grimes, formally. "Settling upon the lady and her heirs for ever all her property now in the 'Three per Cent. Consols.'"

"Just heavens! and there's not a penny of it there!"

"But there will be by the time the marriage is celebrated, or soon after--since you are determined to sell out those shares."

"I wish I could--I wish to Heaven I could!" cried the poor Major, in a despair that required all the warnings of his legal adviser to smother it down, so as to keep their conference private. "I've been driven nearly mad going from broker to broker in the City to-day. I might as well attempt to sell out shares in the Elysian Fields as in that confounded Wheal Caroline."

"Fluctuations, my dear sir; mere fluctuations! 'Tis the same in all Cornish mines. Yet, as I said, both concerning your own little property and Miss Bowen's afterwards, I would wish no better investment. I have the greatest confidence in the Wheal Caroline shares."

"Confidence!" echoed the Major, ruefully. "But where is my brother's confidence in me, when I tell him?--'Pon my life, I can't tell him!"

"There is not the slightest need; I have accurate information from the mine, which next week will raise the shares to ten per cent, premium, and then, since you are so determined to sell out that most promising investment"--

"I will, as sure as I live. I vow I'll never be trustee to any young lady again, as long as my name is Frederick Harper. However, if this must stand"--and he read from the deed--"'all property now invested in the Three per Cents.'--Oh, oh!" Major Harper shook his head, with a deep-drawn sigh of miserable irresolution.

Yet there lay the parchment, sickening him with its prevaricating if not lying face; and his invisible good angel kept pulling him on one side--nay, at last pulled him halfway across the room to where, absorbed in a reverie--pardonable under the circ.u.mstances--his brother sat.

"Nathanael, pray get out of that brown study, and have five minutes'

talk with me. If you only knew the annoyance I have endured all this week concerning Agatha's fortune! How thankful I shall be to transfer it from my hands into yours."

"Oh, yes!" said the lover, rather absently.

"And I hope it will give you less trouble and more reward than it has given me," continued the elder brother, still anxiously beating about the bush, ere he came to a direct confession. "I declare, I have been as anxious for the young lady's benefit as if I had intended marrying her myself."

The bridegroom's quick, fiery glance showed Major Harper that he had gone a little too far, even in privileged jesting.

But happily Nathanael had heard the door open. He hastily went forward and met his bride. With her were Mr. and Mrs. Th.o.r.n.ycroft, Dr. and Mrs.

Ianson, and another lady. The latter quickly pa.s.sed out of the immediate circle, and sat down in a retired corner of the room.