– Alienor will be so glad… So happy! – Brigid exclaimed, pressing her palms to her breast.
– And are you pleased, Miss Guise? – Philip asked in an ingratiating tone.
– Of course, sir, I'm very glad you're back, too," she answered timidly.
– Well, that's fine! Why delay when two hearts are drawn to each other with such inevitable force? – Brigid's father said in a cheerful manner. His face shone with pleasure. – We'll have the wedding next week!
Brigid glanced at her father, but he looked down at her and smiled broadly, which made the girl realise that she was being married off. Being given away without asking her. She knew it would happen someday, that it was the fate of every daughter, but now that the moment had finally arrived, the girl's soul shrieked with indignation.
– Father… But how can I leave you and my mother? – Brigid whispered with pain in her heart.
But it was not the pain of future separation from her parents: her heart sobbed at the realisation that it was not William Tury who would be her husband, but Philip Norton! She had warm feelings for him, of course, but only as the brother of her best friend… She knew nothing about him! She had seen him so seldom, only a few times in her life, for he had spent all his childhood with his knight uncle, and then had disappeared for five years in Europe, fighting for Henry and the interests of England. And though she saw William as seldom as she had once seen Philip, William seemed to her the nearest and most familiar creature in the world after her dear Alienor.
– It is time for you to marry a worthy man, my daughter, and Sir Norton is such a man. He will make you happy and give you many healthy and beautiful children. – Sir Guise touched his daughter's shoulder again, as if to encourage her, but she knew that her father was telling her to shut up and silently accept his will.
And the girl was so used to obeying that she smiled falsely, nodded her head in agreement, and, as a woman should, lowered her gaze to the floor.
– Are you not pleased, my lady? – Philip frowned slightly. He had expected a completely different reaction: he had always thought that this beautiful woman had tender feelings for him and only waited for his return. The fright and rejection that involuntarily appeared on Miss Guise's face saddened him.