“What, then, was this wonderful mystery? Not the representative peerage, I trust; I 'm sure I hope that question is at rest forever.”
“You are quite safe there,—he never mentioned it.”
“Oh, then it was his diplomatic ambition,—ain't I right? Ah, I knew it; I knew it How very silly, or how very wicked you must be, Mr. Linton, to encourage these daydreams,—you who have not the excuse of hallucinations, who read the book of life as it is written, without fanciful interpretations!”
“I certainly must disclaim your paneygric. I had one hallucination, if so you term it,—it was that you wished, ardently wished, for the position which a foreign 'mission' bestows. A very natural wish, I freely own, in one so worthy in every way to grace and adorn it.”
“Well, so I did some time back, but I 've changed my mind. I don't think I should like it; I have been reconsidering the subject.”
“And your Ladyship inclines now rather to seclusion and rural pleasures; how fortunate that I should have been able to serve your interests there also.”
“What do you mean?” said she, with a stare, while a deep scarlet suffused her cheek.
“I alluded to a country visit which you fancied might be made so agreeably, but which his Lordship had the bad taste to regard less favorably.”
“Well, sir, you did not presume to give any opinion?”
“I really did. I had all the hardihood to brave Lord Kilgoff's most fixed resolves. You were aware that he declined Mr. Cashel's invitation?”