Francis reddened to the roots of her hair, and then grew pale, as she answered with a forced smile—
“Well, you are not a dangerous suitor. As the General will have told you, Miss Mordaunt can only accept a very rich husband; and I think you have already acknowledged that the Van Zonshovens are not among the people who pay the highest amount of income-tax.”
“But Francis!” exclaimed the General, deprecatingly.
“Well now, dear papa, that’s the standard by which people are judged nowadays, and you would wish Major Frank to be sold to the highest bidder, if sold she must be. But come, Leopold, let me show you the grounds before dinner. Grandfather can go with us, for the wind has gone down and the sun come out, so that it is quite a mild spring afternoon.”
Chapter XIV.
We directed our steps towards the back of the Castle, passing by the aviary, which had fallen into decay like its surroundings. The Captain had, however, turned it into a poultry-walk, and held undisputed sway over the turkeys with which he had stocked it. The General, who had come out against his will, leaned on the arm of Francis, and I walked by her side. Ascending a small rise in the grounds we came to a summer-house, whence we could obtain a splendid view of the surrounding country—a sweep of undulating heath as far as the eye could reach. Francis said this was her favourite place in the grounds, and that she never grew tired of the charming prospect; but I could see that her grandfather’s thoughts were occupied about something quite different from the picturesque view. All the farms in the neighbourhood, and all the woods around, formerly appertained to the lordship of the Werve; and all these ought to have descended intact to his granddaughter, to whom he would not leave a foot of earth.
“By the way, nephew, what has become of the six other Miss d’Hermaeles, your mother’s sisters?” asked the General, breaking the silence briskly.
Francis burst out laughing.
“Grandfather beginning to take an interest in the fate of six young ladies all at once! That’s too much! But he wishes to know, Leo, whether you have a chance of inheriting anything from a rich aunt,” she said, displaying a quickness of perception peculiar to her. “Isn’t it so, grandfather?”