There was a gleam of humour in his dark eyes as he turned them towards her. In all his intimate knowledge of his former pupil, it had certainly never occurred to him that he possessed a heart of untold depths!
"No. What I believe is, that he will revert to his former indifference towards women, and never marry at all."
"That would be very much to be deplored."
"I am not so sure of that. He is scarcely fitted to attract a superior mind, and you could not expect me to welcome an inferior one, or to view, without pain, an unwilling bride forced into his arms."
A day or two later Lady Osborne stood beneath the portico, to wish her guest "God-speed."
"Remember I shall be counting on you for an invitation!" she said, smiling.
He bowed low.
"I shall have to secure a fair chatelaine, madam, in order to receive you worthily!"
How little did he realize that his idle words were as a naked sword in her breast.