"It will be useless; I shall tell him as I tell you, that I do not like his pedigree."
"Is that your only objection?"
"It is sufficient for a lady to give one objection, I think, especially when that one is insuperable."
Mr. Godfrey seemed disappointed, but he made no reply: the entrance of Miss Fairfield to pour out the coffee summoned the party to the breakfast table.
Mr. Godfrey took up the newspaper, and sipped his coffee in silence; it was his habit to read in company when annoyed. Suddenly, however, he laid the paper down. "De Villeneuve dead," he said, "my first, my earliest friend!" He rose and went to the window, but shortly afterward he left the room, evidently overpowered with the sudden news. Adelaide took up the paper. "It is the father, the old marquis, and his eldest son, drowned on Lake—in a sudden squall of wind. Why, Hester, our old acquaintance now succeeds to the property and title."
"Was not the elder brother married?"
"The paper says not; or at least it says he was a widower and childless, and that the estates now devolve on the second, the youngest son, the one who was in England last year."
"Yes, and it says that he was about to start for England again when this event detained him, and that he is expected shortly; why, it is three months ago since the old marquis died."
"It's strange the news did not reach us before, but what business can our M. de Villeneuve have in England now?"