CHAPTER XXII.
THE next morning Mr. Forbes had an interview with Augusta.
“I don’t choose to discuss this matter of your engagement with your mother,” he said, “so we will come to an understanding at once, if you please. Are you determined to marry this man, to take your mother’s property in case I continue to refuse my consent?”
“Papa! What else can I do? The invitations are out. We should be the laughingstock of two continents. Besides, I am convinced that Bertie is the one man I shall ever want to marry, and I cannot give him up.”
“Very well. You and your mother have beaten me. Fortunately, you are better able to stand the consequences of your acts than most women. I doubt if you will ever realize them. I have an attorney here. He will confer with the Duke’s attorneys to-morrow. Only, be good enough to arrange matters so that I shall see as little as possible of your Duke between now and the wedding. Your mother and I shall return to America the day after the ceremony.”
As Mr. Forbes left the room Augusta thoughtfully arranged the chiffon on the front of her blouse.
“Even a big man,” she reflected, “a great big man, a man who can make Presidents of the United States, has no chance in the hands of two determined women. We are quite dangerous when we know our power.”
She added after a moment:
“How gracefully he gave in. Dear papa! But that is the American of it. We never sulk. We lose our temper. We come down with both feet. We even kick hard and long when we want or don’t want a thing badly. But when we find that it’s all no use, I flatter myself that we know how to climb down.”