Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 11 1
the intention of cutting off the entail was still maintained;
and the day on which his pen gave the daring invitation, he
went to Freshitt expressly to intimate that he had a stronger
sense than ever of the reasons for taking that energetic step
as a precaution against any mixture of low blood in the heir
of the Brookes.
But that morning something exciting had happened at
the Hall. A letter had come to Celia which made her cry si-
lently as she read it; and when Sir James, unused to see her
in tears, asked anxiously what was the matter, she burst out
in a wail such as he had never heard from her before.
‘Dorothea has a little boy. And you will not let me go and
see her. And I am sure she wants to see me. And she will not
know what to do with the baby—she will do wrong things
with it. And they thought she would die. It is very dreadful!
Suppose it had been me and little Arthur, and Dodo had
been hindered from coming to see me! I wish you would be
less unkind, James!’
‘Good heavens, Celia!’ said Sir James, much wrought
upon, ‘what do you wish? I will do anything you like. I will
take you to town to-morrow if you wish it.’ And Celia did
wish it.
It was after this that Mr. Brooke came, and meeting the
Baronet in the grounds, began to chat with him in igno-
rance of the news, which Sir James for some reason did
not care to tell him immediately. But when the entail was
touched on in the usual way, he said, ‘My dear sir, it is not
for me to dictate to you, but for my part I would let that
alone. I would let things remain as they are.’