Read Reckless Griselda for Free Online Page A

to it. We have managed without money before, why not now?”
     
    “A man often finds a woman’s flattery irresistible, Grizzy,” said Hugh. “Is she handsome?”
     
    “Yes, I suppose so – and her looks have all the advantages that her money can buy for them. In fact, I should say fashion is the only thing she takes seriously.”
     
    “I fancy she takes her money seriously,” remarked Hugh.
     
    “How can she? She would not marry my father then, for he’ll run through it as quickly as he can. He will gorge himself on silk waistcoats, and pipes of port and bad carriage horses. If she were a sensible woman she would have chosen to marry a man of her own sort, and marry her daughters likewise. It is too disgusting! And Papa, oh Hugh, how can he?”
     
    “Perhaps he wishes us all to be a little more comfortable,” said Hugh. “He must be thinking of you in this.”
     
    “Yes, he talks endlessly of my marrying well, which you know I shall never do. I cannot bear the thought of it.”
     
    “You are too young to make such a decision,” said Hugh.
     
    “Why not? From what I see of my father’s courtship, I see little to recommend anything of the sort to me. All that sham affection. It is the greatest hypocrisy. And to find that my own father, whom I have been disposed to respect and take as my guide in all important things…”
     
    “That is mere rhetoric,” cut in Hugh, a little sharply. “You would not be here if you were really guided by him.”
     
    “And what else was I to do?” she exclaimed. “Sit in silence and consent to it all? Is that the part a woman must play, even when she knows that a very great evil might come of it?”
     
    “You do not know that for certain,” said Hugh. “How do you know that they care nothing for each other, that they will not deal quite splendidly together? For aught you know our father is acting for the greater good of our family. For my part, I am glad that his situation will be improved. I should hate Glenmorval to be crippled by debt. I should want it set to rights, and if this woman is the way to do it…”
     
    “Hugh no!” she cried. “You cannot be in earnest. If you are, you are as bad as he is, and that I could not bear. Tell me you do not mean this.”
     
    “All I mean to say is, that I cannot judge when I have not made the acquaintance of the lady…”
     
    “She is not a lady,” put in Griselda with force.
     
    “That remains to be seen,” he went on. “Neither have I heard our father’s account of the matter. All I have to judge by is your impassioned and intemperate version and no rational person would regard that as sufficient evidence upon which to make a judgement.”
     
    “You do not trust my word in this?” she said.
     
    “How can I? Your very conduct leads me to suppose you have taken leave of your senses.”
     
    Furiously, she retorted, “Does it not occur to you I should never have acted thus, unless the situation were desperate?”
     
    “An express letter would have done just as well,” he said.
     
    “No, I do not believe it would have done. It would not have roused you from your complacency. It would not have called you to action.”
     
    “You are quite wrong,” he said. “A well reasoned letter would have made me act. For your letters have impressed me – from them I had imagined you an intelligent young woman, with a well-ordered and sensible mind. A few carefully-written pages expressing your doubts would have been sufficient to alert me to the dangers of the situation. I should have then written to my father and asked him to put his side of the case. The very act of writing might have made you see that your violent objections are quite uncalled for.”
     
    “I tried to write, but I could get no sense of it on paper. I had to see you in person. Dearest Hugh, do not disappoint me. This must be stopped. You alone can stop him.”
     
    “I very much doubt that,” said Hugh. “And whatever made you