35. CHAPTER XXXV.
MOTHER-IN-LAW AND DAUGHTER-IN-LAW.
Mrs. Dinks and Hope Wayne sat together in their lodgings,
waiting impatiently for Alfred's return. They were both
working busily, and said little to each other. Mrs. Dinks
had resolved to leave New York at the earliest possible moment.
She waited only to have a clear explanation with her
son. Hope Wayne was also waiting for an explanation. She
was painfully curious to know why Alfred Dinks had told his
mother that they were engaged. As her Aunt Dinks looked
at her, and saw how noble and lofty her beauty was, yet how
simple and candid, she was more than ever angry with her,
because she felt that it was impossible she should ever have
loved Alfred.
They heard a carriage in the street. It stopped at the door.
In a moment the sound of a footstep was audible.
“My dear, I wish to speak to Alfred alone. I hear his
step,” said Mrs. Dinks.
“Yes, aunt,” answered Hope Wayne, rising, and taking her
little basket she moved toward the door. Just as she reached
it, it opened, and Alfred Dinks and Fanny Newt entered.
Hope bowed, and was passing on.
“Stop, Hope!” whispered Alfred, excitedly.
She turned at the door and looked at her cousin, who, with
uncertain bravado, advanced with Fanny to his mother, who
was gazing at them in amazement, and said, in a thick, hurried
voice,
“Mother, this is your daughter Fanny—my wife—Mrs. Alfred
Dinks.”
As she heard these words Hope Wayne went out, closing
the door behind her, leaving the mother alone with her children.
Mrs. Dinks sat speechless in her chair for a few moments,
staring at Alfred, who looked as if his legs would not long
support him, and at Fanny, who stood calmly beside him. At
length she said to Alfred,
“Is that woman really your wife?”
“Yes, 'm,” replied the new husband.
“What are you going to support her with?”
“I have my allowance,” said Alfred, in a very small voice.
“Mrs. Alfred Dinks, your husband's allowance is six hundred
dollars a year from his father. I wish you joy.”
There was a sarcastic sparkle in her eyes. Mrs. Dinks had
long felt that she and Fanny were contesting a prize. At
this moment, while she knew that she had not won, she was
sure that Fanny had lost.
Fanny was prepared for such a reception. She did not
shrink. She remembered the great Burt fortune. But before
[ILLUSTRATION]
Mrs.Dinks. Mere Et Fille.
[Description: 538EAF. Page 215. In-line Illustration. Image of a man and woman standing before a seated woman. The man has his arm around the standing woman and is gesturing towards her with his other hand.]
she could speak Mrs. Dinks rose, and, with an air of contemptuous
defiance, inquired,
“Where are you living, Mrs. Dinks?”
Mr. Alfred looked at his wife in profound perplexity. He
thought, for his part, that he was living in that very house.
But his wife answered, quietly,
“We are at Bunker's, where we shall be delighted to see
you. Good-morning, Mrs. Dinks.”
And Fanny took her husband by the arm and went out,
having entirely confounded her mother-in-law, who meant to
have wished her children good-morning, and then have left
them to their embarrassment. But victory seemed to perch
upon Fanny's standards along the whole line.
