"—It gives me great happiness to tell you, that I believe your suit will have a favourable termination. She has promised to consider it."
"Oh," said the Secretary; and then, recollecting himself, added:
"It's very good of her, I'm sure."
If he had the opportunity, after lunch, he mentally determined to give Lady Isabelle a piece of his mind.
"It's an honest soul," continued her Ladyship, not noticing the interruption, "which refuses the promptings of her heart. Her hesitancy is quite natural, I assure you, and most becoming. When his Lordship asked the honour of my hand——" The Dowager sighed at the sweetness of reminiscence, and again took up the thread of her discourse.
"My daughter told me that she could not, without reflection, be certain of the state of her affections. Make allowance for her, Mr. Stanley, she is very young. Believe me, I should not speak as I do, were it not for the fact that I have known the world well—in my youthful days—though this you would scarcely believe, I dare say—I was one of the acknowledged leaders of the court."
"Your Ladyship's wit and beauty are a bye-word in all good society, and one has only to see you, to realise that they have been enhanced by the added grace of years," murmured the Secretary, doing his prettiest.
"You're a deceitful diplomat, and I don't believe you," said the Dowager, giggling and pretending to be very angry, but vastly pleased, none the less; and, giving him a flabby pat with one of her expansive hands, she continued:
"You must not be downhearted, however; leave everything to me."
The Secretary assured her that he felt quite safe to trust his heart in the keeping of one who had held the custody of so many, and was rewarded for his flattery by a further proof of the Dowager's confidence.