"
"Yes," said the Squire attentively, while Ida folded her hands in her
lap and sat still with her eyes fixed upon the fire.
"It seems," he went on, "that the old proverb has applied to my case
as to so many others--being absent I have suffered. I understand from
these letters that my engagement to you, Miss de la Molle, is broken
off."
She made a motion of assent.
"And that it is broken off on the ground that having been forced by a
combination of circumstances which I cannot enter into to transfer the
mortgages to Mr. Quest, consequently I broke my bargain with you?"
"Yes," said Ida.
"Very well then, I come to tell you both that I am ready to find the
money to meet those mortgages and to pay them off in full."
"Ah!" said the Squire.
"Also that I am ready to do what I offered to do before, and which, as
my father is now dead, I am perfectly in a position to do, namely, to
settle two hundred thousand pounds absolutely upon Ida, and indeed
generally to do anything else that she or you may wish," and he looked
at the Squire.
"It is no use looking to me for an answer," said he with some
irritation. "I have no voice in the matter."
He turned to Ida, who put her hand before her face and shook her head.
"Perhaps," said Edward, somewhat bitterly, "I should not be far wrong
if I said that Colonel Quaritch has more to do with your change of
mind than the fact of the transfer of these mortgages.
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