"What a grand lesson! It is a pity that my husband should not be here to hear it."
"I have no doubt he finds that you do so."
"Or Sir Francis Geraldine. I suppose my uncle is still in search of a wife, and if he knew where to find such excellent principles he would be able to make his choice. What a joke it would be should he again try his luck at Exeter?"
"He has again tried his luck at Exeter," said Miss Altifiorla, in a tone in which some slight shade of ridicule was mixed with the grandiloquence which she wished to assume.
"What on earth do you mean?" said Mrs. Thorne.
"Simply what I seem to mean. I had not intended to have told you at present, though I would sooner tell you than any person living. You must promise me, however, that it shall go no further. Sir Francis Geraldine has done me the honour to ask me to be his wife." Thus she communicated her good news; and did so in a tone of voice that was very low, and intended to be humble.
"My uncle going to marry you? Good gracious!"
"Is it more wonderful than that he should have thought of marrying Cecilia Holt?"
"Well, yes. Not that I know why it should be, except that Cecilia came first, and that you and she were so intimate."
"Was he doomed to remain alone in the world because of that?" asked Miss Altifiorla.