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

The Salamanca Corpus: Yeoman Fleetwood (1900)
She stopped short, uttering an exclamation of disappointment at sight of Simon, and the
man went forward to the doorway where Mrs. Fitzherbert herself was now standing.
"Pray, come in, Mr Fleetwood," she said, turning a shade paler as she caught sight of his
agitated face; “I am glad to see you. And you, my love," she added to the little girl,
“must go to bed. You have sat up too long as it is."
"I want my Prince," said the child, bursting into tears.
"He will not come to-night, my dear," said Mrs. Fitzherbert, quietly. "I told you before,
you know, that it was most improbable. He has a card party-to-night. Now run away,
my little one, and sleep sweetly. Good-night, good-night"
"My adopted child," she explained, looking towards Simon, as the little girl left the
room; "the daughter of one of my dearest friends, who bequeathed her to me on her
death-bed. I have been much harassed in connection with her, but her sweet affection
repays me for
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everything. The Prince, too, is devotedly attached to her — and you see how the poor
child loves him. That in itself would be proof, if proof were wanting, of his goodness of
heart. But tell me, what has happened — what about your meeting with — with your
wife?"
“Oh, madam,” groaned Simon, "I am well-nigh distracted. She would not see me — she
defies me. I wrote to warn her of my intention to claim her publicly as my wife, and in
her wrath she has taken a desperate step. She has this very night gone in the company of
three gentlemen to the Pavilion. Lady Susan Harding refused to accompany her, and
forbade her to go, and because she insisted, has forbidden her the house. I saw it — I
heard it all. She bade the very servants refuse admittance to her if she sought shelter
there to-night. But she, Rachel, was quite reckless. ‘I will go to an inn, then,' said she.
What is to become of her — how will it end?"
"She is at the Pavilion now, you tell me?" said the lady, sinking into a chair.
"Madam, she drove off in a coach, before my very eyes. I see her purpose. She is
incensed at my endeavour to coerce her, and seeks so to scandalise and disgust me that I
may no longer wish to claim her. She said she wanted the town to ring with the story,