"
"Of course not," he answered. "Look here, Ida, I will give you those
mortgage bonds as a wedding present, and you can put them in the fire;
and I will make a good settlement on you."
"Thank you," she said, "but I do not require any settlement on myself;
I had rather none was made; but I consent to the engagement only on
the express condition that the mortgages shall be cancelled before
marriage, and as the property will ultimately come to me, this is not
much to ask. And now one more thing, Mr. Cossey; I should like to know
when you would wish this marriage to take place; not yet, I presume?"
"I could wish it to take place to-morrow," he said with an attempt at
a laugh; "but I suppose that between one thing and another it can't
come off at once. Shall we say this time six months, that will be in
May?"
"Very good," said Ida; "this day six months I shall be prepared to
become your wife, Mr. Cossey. I believe," she added with a flash of
bitter sarcasm, "it is the time usually allowed for the redemption of
a mortgage."
"You say very hard things," he answered, wincing.
"Do I? I daresay. I am hard by nature. I wonder that you can wish to
marry me."
"I wish it beyond everything in the world," he answered earnestly.
"You can never know how much.
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