I complied with his request.
“Pardon me for asking you a question which may seem somewhat out of place. Is this the first time you have met my granddaughter?”
“The first time, General;” and I rapidly sketched an account of our meeting and walk to the Castle.
“Well, I am glad of it,” said the old man with a sigh of relief. “My granddaughter is possessed of many excellent qualities, that I can truly say; but she has her peculiarities. At times she can be very brusque, and she has a foible for braving the laws of good society, and setting all the world at defiance, which has made her many enemies. It occurred to me she was now trying to make amends for some misunderstanding which had arisen between herself and you.”
I assured him this was not the case, and that I felt my kindly reception to be the more flattering since Miss Mordaunt was not accustomed to flatter.
“Then explain to me,” he continued, “your relationship to the family, for, though I remember having heard of a Van Zonshoven who was related to my deceased wife, it is so long ago——”
“My grandmother, General, was a Freule van Roselaer.”
“She married a French nobleman, if I recollect aright?”
“A Belgian, General: Baron d’Hermaele.”
“Well, yes, it was during the French occupation of the country under Napoleon I.; and in those days one did not pay so much attention to nationality. Our disagreement with Freule Sophia prevented our making his acquaintance. He settled in Belgium, and I heard afterwards that Baron d’Hermaele stood in high favour at court in the reign of King William I.”