The Duke of Ormskirk considered the affair, a mild amusement waking in his plump face.
"Old friend," said he, at length, "it is my opinion that we are perilously near to being a couple of fools. We planned this marriage, you and I--dear, dear, we planned it when Marian was scarcely out of her cradle! But we failed to take nature into the plot, Harry. It was sensible--Oh, granted! I obtained a suitable mistress for Ingilby and Bottreaux Towers, a magnificent ornament for my coach and my opera-box; while you--your pardon, old friend, if I word it somewhat grossly,--you, in effect, obtained a wealthy and not uninfluential husband for your daughter. Nay, I think you are fond of me, but that is beside the mark; it was not Jack Bulmer who was to marry your daughter, but the Duke of Ormskirk. The thing was as logical as a sale of bullocks,--value for value. But now nature intervenes, and"--he snapped his fingers,--"eh, well, since she wants this Humphrey Degge, of course she must have him."
Lord Brudenel mentioned several penalties which he would voluntarily incur in case of any such preposterous marriage.
"Your style," the Duke regretfully observed, "is somewhat more original than your subject. You have a handsome daughter to barter, and you want your price. The thing is far from uncommon. Yet you shall have your price, Harry. What estate do you demand of your son-in-law?"
"What the devil are you driving at?" said Lord Brudenel.
Composedly the Duke of Ormskirk spread out his hands. "You have, in effect, placed Marian in the market," he said, "and I offer to give Lord Humphrey Degge the money with which to purchase her."
"Tis evident," the Earl considered, "that you are demented!"
"Because I willingly part with money? But then I have a great deal of money. I have money, and I have power, and the King occasionally pats me upon the shoulder, and men call me 'your Grace,' instead of 'my Lord,' as they do you. So I ought to be very happy, ought I not, Harry? Ah, yes, I ought to be entirely happy, because I have had everything, with the unimportant exception of the one thing I wanted."
But Lord Brudenel had drawn himself erect, stiffly. "I am to understand, then, from this farrago, that on account of the--um--a--incident we have just witnessed you decline to marry my daughter?"