“His name is one of the oldest and noblest in the province of Anjou.”
“And he is a very old man?”
“He is sixty-five.”
Brevan struck the marble slab of the mantlepiece with his fist so that it shook, and exclaimed,—
“Ah, she told me she would succeed!”
And then he added in a very low tone of voice, as if speaking to himself with an indescribable accent of mingled admiration and hatred,—
“What a woman! Oh, what a woman!”
Daniel, who was himself greatly excited, and far too busy with his own thoughts to observe what was going on, did not notice the excitement of his friend; he continued quietly,—
“Now you will understand my great curiosity. In order to prevent the scandal of such a marriage, my friend’s family would do every thing in the world. But how can you attack a woman of whose antecedents and mode of life nothing is known?”
“Yes, I understand,” said Brevan,—“I understand.”