"
Lydia spoke with a kind of virtuous resignation and resolution,
infinitely assuring to her brother. But he was getting tired of the
discussion, and desirous to end it. Anxious as he was to be rid of his
sister, and to effect the riddance on the best possible terms, he did
not mean to be bored by her just then. So he spoke to the point at
once.
"That's rather a queer mode of proceeding," he said. "You are to avow
your affection for this fine gentleman, and then he is to throw over
another lady in order to reward your devotion. There was a day when
Miss Graham's pride would have been outraged by a proposition which
certainly seems rather humiliating."
Lydia flushed crimson, and looked at her brother with angry eyes. She
felt the sting of his malicious speech, and knew that it was intended
to wound her.
"Pride and I have long parted company," she answered, bitterly. "I have
learnt to endure degradation as placidly as you do when you condescend
to become the toady and flatterer of richer men than yourself."
Captain Graham did not take the trouble to resent this remark. He
smiled at his sister's anger, with the air of a man who is quite
indifferent to the opinion of others.
"Well, my dear Lydia," he said, good-humouredly, "all I can say is,
that if you have caught the brother of your late admirer, you are very
lucky. The merest schoolboy knows enough arithmetic to be aware that
ten thousand a year is twice as good as five.
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