The Salamanca Corpus: Yeoman Fleetwood (1900 ... - Gredos

The Salamanca Corpus: Yeoman Fleetwood (1900)
compact between us secret, though he himself apparently had no scruple in speaking of
it when it suited his purpose"
"What," said the lawyer, “the young lady knew nothing of it?"
“She knew nothing of it till yesterday, when her cousin told her, he being careful, as you
may suppose, to place the worst construction on my conduct. She accused me of having
deceived her, and —well —we parted.”
[314]
"Pooh, pooh!" said Mr. Renshaw good-naturedly, "she'll cool down, my boy, she'll cool
down. Let her alone for a bit, and she'll get over it never be downhearted for a trifle like
that. Does the Squire know of this?"
“I should think, sir, that Humphrey Charnock would lose no time in acquainting him
with it —with our parting, I mean, and of Rachel's wrath against me; but not of our
marriage, for of that he is ignorant himself. We had intended to go straight to the Squire
on our return, announce what had taken place, and thus force him to appoint an early
date for the public and religious ceremony which we both wished for. We had meant to
keep the Gretna Green expedition secret, and now she— Rachel — would have me keep
it secret still. She besought it of me — she enjoined it on me. And I — I made no
promises; yet, unless I am driven to it, I would not gainsay her in this."
His friend took snuff noisily, and instead of restoring the box to his pocket continued to
hold it, tapping the lid reflectively with his forefinger.
"She thinks our marriage a shame and a disgrace to her," went on Simon, still absorbed
with his painful reflections. “She will not bear my name — she swears that she will
never see my face again. She would free herself if she could, but that as you know is
impossible."
Mr. Renshaw took another pinch of snuff.
“Impossible? Humph! Well — yes — unless she were prepared for an amount of
unpleasantness which I am sure her delicacy would shrink from. Under the
circumstances the marriage might be broken, but not without publicity and scandal."
“In the meantime," pursued Simon, "the prospect of the sale of so large a portion of the
Charnleigh property places me in a dilemma. I do not want my wife to