He bowed towards the countess.
‘To please you, gnädige Frau,’ he said, with a slight smile, ‘is a privilege, and I shall at once obey your order when I receive it.’
‘That is good! recht freundlich!’ exclaimed the lady, radiant with delight; for Wellfield’s reserve was generally as great as his talent was said to be, and she had had little hope of his consenting to sing before that large audience of perfect strangers. She confided her success to the ear of one of her cousins, Helene von Lehnberg, who said, with a sneer:
‘Another of your English amateurs, Carla? For my part, I don’t think much of a talent that is so haughty and reserved as almost to require one to go on one’s knees to it.’
‘Ah, my dear Helene! I doat upon proud, haughty people, when they are just the reverse to me, which is the case with Mr. Wellfield,’ rejoined Frau von Trockenau, not without malice.
‘I am glad you are going to sing,’ said Sara to Jerome, when they were alone again.
‘I am naturally of an obliging disposition, and could not refuse the Frau Gräfin.’
‘She is delighted,’ said Sara, with a smile.
‘When I have done,’ said Wellfield, in a low tone, ‘I shall come and ask if you were delighted—may I?’
‘May you?’ she stammered.