If he had been the man she loved, then indeed might she have acted rightly.

But having thrown over that very man in this silly fashion, for the sake of what did not appear to be worth the sacrifice, Chaldea felt that Agnes did not deserve Lambert, and she then and there determined that the Gentile lady should never possess him.
Of course, on the face of it, there was no question of possession.

The man being weaker than the woman would have been only too glad to elope, and thus cut the Gordian knot of the unhappy situation.

But the woman, having acted from a high sense of duty, which Chaldea could not rise to, evidently was determined to continue to be a martyr.

The question was, could she keep up that pose in the face of the undeniable fact that she loved her cousin?
The listening girl thought not.