"Your worst enemy couldn't deny it!" said he, shaking his head.
"Then what's all this about?" said I, snatching the letter out of his hands. But though I tried with my double eyeglass, Molly, it was no use, for the writing was in a German hand, not to say anything of the language.
"Well, ma'am," said K. I., with a grin, "I hope the contents are pleasing to you?" And before I could fly out at him, James broke in: "It's a proposal for Mary Anne, mother. The young Baron that we met at Bonn makes her an offer of his hand and fortune, and invites us all to his castle in the Black Forest as a preliminary step."
"Isn't that to your taste, Mrs. D.?" said K. I., with another grin. "High connection—nobility—great family,—eh?"
"I don't think," said I, "that, considering the step I took myself in life, anybody can reproach me with prejudices of that kind." The step I took! Molly, I said the words with a sneer that made him purple.
"What's his fortune, James?" said I.
"Heaven knows! but he must have a stunning income. This Castle of Wolfenfels is in all the print-shops of the town. It's a thing as large as Windsor, and surrounded by miles of forest."
"My poor child," said I, "I always knew where you 'd be at last; and it's only two nights ago I had a dream of taking grease out of my yellow satin. I thought I was rubbing and scrubbing at it with all my might."
"And what did that portend, ma'am?" said K. I., with his usual sneer.
"Can't you guess?" said I. "Might n't it mean an effort to get rid of the stain of a low connection?" Was n't that a home-thrust, Molly? Faith, he felt it so!