A flood of light and rapture came in her face, her eyes filled with joy.
"Do you mean it? Is it really true?" she asked.
"Really true; but remember all depends on yourself;" and the doctor went away, leaving behind him a heart full of emotion, of pleasure, of pain, hope, and regret.
Meanwhile, the countess for the second time had sought her son. Her stern, grave face, her angry eyes, the repressed pride and emotion that he saw in every gesture, told him that the time for jesting or evasion had passed.
"Lance," said my lady, sternly, "you are a man now. I cannot command you as I did when you were a boy."
"No, mother; that is quite true. Apropos of what do you say that?"
"I am afraid the sin of your manhood will be greater than the follies of your youth," she said.
"It is just possible," he replied, indifferently.
"You have heard that you have been mentioned for the vacant Garter, and that it is highly probable you may receive it?"
"I have heard so," he answered, indifferently.