" Then
Bernard, clamouring loudly, threw his arms round the thick old heavy
silken gown that had been put on her, and declared that he would not
part with his Grisly, and his mother tore him away by force,
declaring that he need not fear, Copeland would be in no hurry to
take her away, and again when she bent to kiss him he clung tight
round her neck almost strangling her, and rumpling her tresses.
Ridley had come up to say that my lord was calling for the young
lady, and it was he who took the boy off and held him in his arms, as
the mother, who seemed endued with new strength by the excitement,
threw a large white muffling veil over Grisell's head and shoulders,
and led or rather dragged her down to the hall.
The first sounds she there heard were, "Sir, I have given my faith to
the Lady Eleanor of Audley, whom I love."
"What is that to me? 'Twas a precontract to my daughter."
"Not made by me nor her."
"By your parents, with myself. You went near to being her death
outright, marred her face for life, so that none other will wed her.
What say you? Not hurt by your own will? Who said it was? What
matters that?"
"Sir," said Leonard, "it is true that by mishap, nay, if you will
have it so, by a child's inadvertence, I caused this evil chance to
befall your daughter, but I deny, and my father denies likewise, that
there was any troth plight between the maid and me.
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