“General prosperity, then, I see, for you both look cheerful, and Seraphin is as blooming as a clover field.”
“How is dear mother?”
“Quite well. She misses her only child. She sends much love.”
The carriage drew up at the gate. The young lady was awaiting the millionaire at the bottom of the steps. While greetings were exchanged between them, a faint tinge of warmth could be noticed on the cold features of the land-owner. A smile formed about his mouth, his piercing eyes glanced for an instant at Seraphin, and instantly the smile was eclipsed under the cloud of an unwelcome discovery.
“I am on my way to the industrial exhibition,” said he, “and I thought I would pay you a visit in passing. I wish you not to put yourself to any inconvenience, my dear Louise. You will have the goodness to make me a little tea, this evening, which we shall sip together.”
“I am overjoyed at your visit, and yet I am sorry, too.”
“Sorry! Why so?”
“Because you are in such a hurry.”
“It cannot be helped, my child. I am overwhelmed with work. Harvest has commenced; no less than six hundred hands are in the fields, and I am obliged to go to the exhibition. I must see and test some new machinery which is said to be of wonderful power.”
“Well, then, you will at least spare us a few days on your return?”