She
sobbed hysterically, while he did his best to soothe her, forgetting his
own pain at the sight of hers. When she could speak, her first words were
of Rhoda.
"Tom, you won't let this come between you? Tom dear, I know she loves
you."
His face quivered all over. "I have no right to speak to her yet," he
said. "Perhaps--but I must wait. Can't you see it must be so? I shall have
my own way to make in the world." He squared his shoulders as he said it,
as if eager to begin the struggle.
"Tom, I don't see it," his aunt burst out. But he would not let her go on.
He could not bear it. He felt that it was utterly impossible for him to
ask Rhoda to marry him if she was heiress of Woodcote and he without a
penny he could call his own. If they had met knowing their relative
positions, it might have been different. But now he could make no claim on
her. His aunt's conduct had raised a barrier between them that could not
be broken down till he had won an independent position for himself.
Miss Merivale's heart ached as she looked at him, but she was far from
understanding the full bitterness of the blow she had inflicted on him.
Tom felt as if he had suddenly grown old. He left his aunt presently and
went out into the open air. He no longer felt inclined to go and meet the
pony carriage, but he went through the wood to the furzy common beyond.
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