"
"What good can arise out of any discussion of this subject, Belle? You
think me weak and foolish; granted that I am both, you cannot cure me of
my weakness or my folly."
"And am I never to hope that you will find some one else, better worthy
of your regard than Marian Nowell?"
"I fear not, Belle. For me there is no one else."
Mrs. Lister breathed a profound sigh, and resumed the counting of her
stitches. Yet perhaps, after all, it was better that her brother should
cherish the memory of this unlucky attachment. It would preserve him from
the hazard of any imprudent alliance in the future, and leave his fortune
free, to descend by-and-by to the juvenile Listers. Isabella was not a
particularly mercenary person, but she was a woman of the world, and had
an eye to the future aggrandisement of her children.
She was very kind and considerate to Gilbert after this, carefully
avoiding any farther allusions to his lost love, and taking all possible
pains to make his visit pleasant to him. She was so affectionate and
cordial, and seemed so really anxious for him to stay, that he could not
in common decency hurry back to town quite so soon as he had intended. He
prolonged his visit to the end of that week, and then to the beginning of
the next; and when he did at last find himself free to return to London,
the second week was nearly ended.
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