"I knew this thing was going to be too much for you, dear mother," he said, with an air of reproach. "I am so sorry you undertook it. It will be a bore altogether."
"Harry, it is not the ball--it is you! Oh, Harry! Harry! Look at this letter. I found it in your room. Naturally, I read it; and, of course, having done so, I think it honorable to talk with you about it."
Harry was fingering the letter his mother handed him, as she spoke, and when she ceased, he folded the paper and put it in his pocket. "Well, mother," he said, "you have discovered what I intended to tell you as soon as this miserable ball was over. I love Yanna. I intend to marry her--if she will marry me."
"No fear of that. The girl has been doing her best to secure you all summer long."
"Oh, Harry, such a marriage is impossible! You know how I adore you! You are my life! I cannot give you up to this strange girl. Besides, dear Harry, you have taught me to rely upon you, to trust to you, in all my cares and troubles. You have been my right hand, ever since you were a little lad. You have enabled Rose to take her proper place in society. Without you, everything must go to destruction."
"Dear mother, I do not see any reason for such calamity. You give me too much credit."
"I do not give you enough. Look at your father. He is wonderfully clever, but has he ever been of any use in business? You have had everything to attend to. If I had had the remotest idea you would marry, I should never have permitted the building of this house. We have sunk a deal of money in it. Without your income, we shall be quite unable to keep it up. Then just imagine how we shall be laughed at by the Giffords and all our set! It makes me shivering sick."
"You knew, mother, that I would be likely to marry sometime."
"Oh, yes! but not just at this time. You could not have chosen a more cruel time. How am I to manage with two houses on my hands, and no one to help me? Then, there is your little sister Rose! I hoped to give her a fair chance this season, to let her entertain, to let her realize her ideas in dress. She has been promised these pleasures; how can I tell her you are going to leave us to fight the world alone! You know, Harry--yes, you do know--that Rose gets a great many invitations for your sake. If your engagement becomes known--and such things sift through the air--farewell to the Lennox dinners and dances! farewell to the Manns, and the Storeys, and the Wolseys, and a great many others! In fact, there is no use in opening the New York house at all. We had better stay here. Thank goodness! we can make your father's book the excuse."