His heart was a dial to which the world was the sun: when the great eye of the public fell on it, it answered every purpose that a heart could answer; but when that eye was invisible, the dial was mute--a piece of brass and nothing more.
It is just to Robert Beaufort to assure the reader that he wholly disbelieved his brother's story of a private marriage.

He considered that tale, when heard for the first time, as the mere invention (and a shallow one) of a man wishing to make the imprudent step he was about to take as respectable as he could.

The careless tone of his brother when speaking upon the subject--his confession that of such a marriage there were no distinct proofs, except a copy of a register (which copy Robert had not found)--made his incredulity natural.

He therefore deemed himself under no obligation of delicacy or respect, to a woman through whose means he had very nearly lost a noble succession--a woman who had not even borne his brother's name--a woman whom nobody knew.

Had Mrs.
Morton been Mrs.Beaufort, and the natural sons legitimate children, Robert Beaufort, supposing their situation of relative power and dependence to have been the same, would have behaved with careful and scrupulous generosity.