At this moment Lord Albert D'Esterre entered. "Shall I ask him for to-morrow?" eagerly whispered Sir William into Lady Tilney's ear; afraid lest the subject nearest his heart should again be usurped by some other topic.
"Yes—no—yes, you may;" replied Lady Tilney; whose answer in the affirmative was decided by her wish to know more of Lord Albert in society, and a little also by Comtesse Leinsengen's having held cheap her penetration in regard to the qualifications of the former for their société choisie. The invitation was quickly given, and no excuse would be admitted. While Lord Albert was endeavouring to extricate himself from this importunity, and Sir William to convince him of the impossibility of disobeying Lady Tilney's commands, which he advanced to strengthen his cause, the Comtesse Leinsengen caught the conversation:
"So, Milor, you will not be at de party to-morrow? an excuse vraiment! when de people make me excuse, I know what dat means, and it is made up in my mind never to ask dem again."
"When you have once expressed that horrible sentence," answered Lord Albert, smiling, "it would surely be impossible to incur so great a danger; but as I am really not able to give my assent to the very obliging invitation, I shall not, I hope, be deemed deserving of the penalty."
"What! then you will not accept?" asked the Comtesse Leinsengen again, in her own abrupt tone of command.
"No; I lament I cannot." The Comtesse shrugged her shoulders, adding:
"What! you will not accept, I suppose, because it is Sunday; and you are engaged all de day long to de Church; is it not dat—are you what dey call a saint?" Lord Albert felt annoyed by the importunity with which he had been assailed; and conceiving, according to his own ideas of good breeding, that declining an invitation at first was sufficient, he continued to look more grave and annoyed. Still as the Comtesse repeated the question:
"Are you what dey call a saint?"
"No, a sinner certainly; but would I were indeed a saint."