The old woman who opened the door said Master
Tom was not up yet, but she would take his message. Returning
presently, she asked him to walk in. He declined the hospitality,
and remained in front of the house.
Tom was no coward, in the ordinary sense of the word: there was
in him a good deal of what goes to the making of a gentleman; but
he confessed to being "in a bit of a funk" when he heard who was
below: there was but one thing it could mean, he thought--that
Letty had been found out, and here was her cousin come to make a
row. But what did it matter, so long as Letty was true to him?
The world should know that Wardour nor Platt--his mother's maiden
name!--nor any power on earth should keep from him the woman of
his choice! As soon as he was of age, he would marry her, in
spite of them all. But he could not help being a little afraid of
Godfrey Wardour, for he admired him.
For Godfrey, he would have rather liked Tom Helmer, had he ever
seen down into the best of him; but Tom's carelessness had so
often misrepresented him, that Godfrey had too huge a contempt
for him. And now the miserable creature had not merely grown
dangerous, but had of a sudden done him the greatest possible
hurt! It was all Godfrey could do to keep his contempt and hate
within what he would have called the bounds of reason, as he
waited for "the miserable mongrel.
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