He trembled from head to foot; and all he could do was to stretch out his lips, and to stammer in an almost ecstatic tone of voice,—
“Oh, beautiful! too beautiful!”
“It has taken you long enough, I am sure,” said Sir Thorn severely,—“too long!”
He might have known that Miss Brandon had accomplished a miracle of expeditiousness; for it was not a quarter of an hour since she returned to the house.
“You are an impertinent villain, Thorn,” she said, laughing in the fresh and hearty manner of a child; “and I am very happy that the presence of the count relieves me from your eternal sermons.”
“Sarah!” exclaimed Mrs. Brian reprovingly.
But she had already turned round, with her hand outstretched towards Daniel,—
“I am so glad you have come, sir!” she said. “I am sure we shall understand each other admirably.”
She told him this with the softest possible voice; but, if he had known her better, he would have read in the way in which she looked at him, that her disposition towards him had entirely changed since yesterday; then she wished him well; now she hated him savagely.
“Understand each other?” he repeated as he bowed; “in what?”