No wonder he was radiant when he came to explain his
plans to me.
He had some difficulty in telling all that had happened. He hesitated,
blushed, hummed and hawed. Misgivings began to cross his mind when he
found himself obliged to tell his story to someone else. He felt
inclined to slur things over, but I wanted to get at the facts, so I
helped him over the bad places, and questioned him till I had got out
pretty nearly the whole story as I have given it above.
I hope I did not show it, but I was very angry. I had begun to like
Ernest. I don't know why, but I never have heard that any young man to
whom I had become attached was going to get married without hating his
intended instinctively, though I had never seen her; I have observed that
most bachelors feel the same thing, though we are generally at some pains
to hide the fact. Perhaps it is because we know we ought to have got
married ourselves. Ordinarily we say we are delighted--in the present
case I did not feel obliged to do this, though I made an effort to
conceal my vexation. That a young man of much promise who was heir also
to what was now a handsome fortune, should fling himself away upon such a
person as Ellen was quite too provoking, and the more so because of the
unexpectedness of the whole affair.
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