He
will come back in a few days; and all be right again. Ronald,
there is one question I have been wishing to ask you--do not be
angry if I pain you, my son. Beatrice will be married soon--do
you not intend her mother to be present at the wedding?"
Lord Earle rose from his chair, and began, as he always did in
time of anxiety, to pace up and down the room.
"I had forgotten her claim," he said. "I can not tell what to
do, mother. It would be a cruel, unmerited slight to pass her
over, but I do not wish to see her. I have fought a hard battle
with my feelings, but I can not bring myself to see her."
"Yet you loved her very much once," said Lady Helena.
"I did," he replied, gently. "Poor Dora."
"It is an awful thing to live at enmity with any one," said Lady
Helena--"but with one's own wife! I can not understand it,
Ronald."
"You mistake, mother," he said, eagerly; "I am not at enmity with
Dora. She offended me--she hurt my honor--she pained me in a
way I can never forget."
"You must forgive her some day," replied Lady Earle; "why not
now?"
"No," he said, sadly.
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