"
"How has it gone off? For Mrs. Mountjoy has taken Florence home."
"Oh yes, she has taken her away. But she hasn't shut the stable-door
till the steed has been stolen."
"Oh, the steed has been stolen?"
"Yes, I think so; I do think so."
"And that poor man who has disappeared is nowhere."
"Men who disappear never are anywhere. But I do flatter myself that if
he had held his ground and kept his property the result would have been
the same."
"I dare say."
"Don't suppose, Mrs. Armitage, that I am taking any pride to myself. Why
on earth Florence should have taken a fancy to such a fellow as I am I
cannot imagine."
"Oh no; not in the least."
"It's all very well for you to laugh, Mrs. Armitage, but as I have
thought of it all I have sometimes been in despair."
"But now you are not in despair."
"No, indeed; just now I am triumphant. I have thought so often that I
was a fool to love her, because everything was so much against me."
"I have wondered that you continued. It always seemed to me that there
wasn't a ghost of a chance for you. Mr. Armitage bade me give it all up,
because he was sure you would never do any good."
"I don't care how much you laugh at me, Mrs. Armitage."
"Let those laugh who win.
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