“Lord Werter is a prize worth winning,” Reed Raymond remarked, joining in the conversation. “For himself alone any woman might love him, for his nature is most noble and winning, and his standard of honor the highest. His rent roll is twenty thousand a year, and his accession to the earldom when his father dies will make him one of the wealthiest peers in the realm.”
Daisie listened with even more astonishment than Annette.
Could these statements be true?
Then surely she had made a mistake in suspecting that the handsome nobleman was Dallas Bain himself, masquerading under a spurious title.
Yes, she had made a grave mistake, and acted almost rudely toward Lord Werter, under the angry assumption that he was her old lover, the unworthy Dallas Bain.
She crimsoned with mortification at the remembrance of her icy hauteur to the unconscious young man, and resolved to make amends by real cordiality when he came to call on Annette.
Royall Sherwood also chimed in:
“I am so interested in this wonderful Lord Werter that I intend to be present when he calls on Annette, so that I may cultivate his acquaintance.”
Annette’s fluttering heart sank to the heels of her little French slippers as she thought:
“Heaven forbid the acquaintance! For he could scarcely help from recognizing his old rival. And what then?”