"If he lays a brush on it"—the stranger began in a furious tone, but checked himself—"if he lays a brush on it, he will spoil an old master."
"A master!" said Miss Arabel with a contemptuous giggle. "I only wish you could see it."
"I wish I could," replied the young gentleman; "but I am afraid I shall never be so happy."
"Oh!"—The young lady did not say any thing more, but looked at the stranger, as if taking measure of his respectability to see if an entrée to Surbridge Hall was really above his hopes. He was tall, well made, with an air such as she had not seen in any of the visitors at that aristocratic mansion.
"I'm sure," she repeated, looking down and speaking with interesting hesitation, "my papa would be happy to show his gallery to any gentleman in the neighbourhood. Perhaps you know papa?"
"I have not the honour, but since I know what a treasure he possesses, I should think it a great happiness to make his acquaintance."
The lady said nothing, but thought it the most neatly turned compliment she ever heard in her life.
"I am on a visit to a family near this," he continued, "and may perhaps have the opportunity of meeting Mr Howard.
"Oh, where is it?" exclaimed Miss Arabel. "What is their name? We know every body in the neighbourhood—that is, of course, you know"——
"Every body that's worth knowing," said the stranger with a smile.