"But if your father," said Miss Vere, "were to say,—Thus do, or"———
"I would stand to the consequences of his or, were he the most cruel father that ever was recorded in romance, to fill up the alternative."
"And what if he threatened you with a catholic aunt, an abbess, and a cloister?"
"Then," said Miss Ilderton, "I would threaten him with a protestant son-in-law, and be glad of an opportunity to disobey him for conscience sake. And now that Nanny is out of hearing, let me really say, I think you would be excuseable before God and man for resisting this preposterous match by every means in your power. A proud, dark, ambitious man; a caballer against the state; infamous for his avarice and severity; a bad son, a bad brother, unkind and ungenerous to all his relatives—Isabel, I would die rather than have him."
"Don't let my father hear you give me such advice," said Miss Vere, "or adieu to Ellieslaw-Castle."
