"I do not think you should have spoken," he said. "You cannot know——"
The countess smiled.
"A mother's eyes are quick," she said. "A word and the pearl is at your feet, Leycester."
He was but a man, warm-blooded and impressionable, and for a moment his face flushed, but the "I love you" still rang in his ears.
"If that be so, all the more cause for silence, mother," he said. "But I hope you are mistaken."
"I am not mistaken," she said. "Do you think," and she smiled, "that I should have spoken if I had not been sure? Oh, Leycester," and she moved toward him, "think of her! Is there any beauty so beautiful as hers; is there any one woman you have ever met who possessed a tithe of her charms! Think of her as the head of the house; think of her in my place——"
He put up his hand.
"Think of her," she went on, quickly, "as your own, your very own! Leycester, there is no man born who could turn away from her!"
Almost involuntarily he turned and went to the fireplace, and leant upon it.
"There is no man, who, so turning, but would in time give all that he possessed to come back to her!"