She rose and looked at him in silence, and with an expression of eye not favourable to his suit, at all events; but Rookleigh was by no means abashed, for he was one of those men to whom the apparently unattainable has a peculiar fascination. Clara, with difficulty, restrained her tears.
"Will you pardon me, if I have been presumptuous?" said he.
"On one condition."
"Oh, name it!"
"That you never dare address me in this manner again, and never intrude upon me more!"
She was sweeping away with a queenly grace, when his voice arrested her:
"Miss Hampton, you had better think twice over this," said he, coarsely; "you may not disdain the hand of a man of wealth and position some day."
Her only reply was to ring the bell,
"Show this gentleman out," said she to the servant who appeared; and Rookleigh, baffled for the time, retired, with his heart swollen by passion and resentment.
When next he appeared before Clara, his manner was changed, and her appearance too.