"Yes, I too will be your ally," cried the Duchess of Richmond; "we
have all three been outraged by the same man. Let, then, our revenge
be a common one. The father has insulted you; the son, me. Well,
then, I will help you to strike the father, if you in return will
assist me to destroy the son."
"I will assist you," said Arabella, smiling; "for I also hate the
haughty Earl of Surrey, who prides himself on his virtue, as if it
were a golden fleece which God himself had stuck on his breast. I
hate him; for he never meets me but with proud disregard; and he
alone is to blame for his father's faithlessness."
"I was present when with tears he besought the duke, our father, to
free himself from your fetters, and give up this shameful and
disgraceful connection with you," said the young duchess.
Arabella answered nothing. But she pressed her hands firmly
together, and a slight pallor overspread her cheeks.
"And why are you angry with your brother?" asked the old duchess,
thoughtfully.
"Why am I angry with him, do you ask, my mother? I am not angry with
him; but I execrate him, and I have sworn to myself never to rest
till I have avenged myself. My happiness, my heart, and my future,
lay in his hands; and he has remorselessly trodden under his haughty
feet these--his sister's precious treasures. It lay with him to make
me the wife of the man I love; and he has not done it, though I lay
at his feet weeping and wringing my hands.
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