"Haven't I been a reasonable, well-behaved fellow not to have haunted or worried you all these months? Will you let me come and tell you how wise and staid and prudent I have become?" he said.
He spoke half in jest, but there was a wonderfully appealing look in his eyes.
"I am very glad to hear it, Mr. De Burgh. I hope you will go on and prosper."
"And will you shut your doors against me if I call?"
"Thanks! How heavenly it is to see you again! though you don't look quite as bright as you did at Sandbourne. Is this your carriage? I see you have not started a turn-out of your own yet."
"And never shall, probably."
"Not, at all events, till you have appointed your 'master of the horse.' Good-by till to-morrow night."
He handed her carefully into the brougham, and stood looking after it as she drove away.