s
it not? Well--nay, never blush so deeply; there is nothing (for in these
matters one can't have all one's wishes, one can't have everything) to
be ashamed of! Tell me now, child, dost think he is in love with thee?"

If Lucy did not immediately answer by words, her pretty lips moved as if
she could readily reply; and finally they settled into so sweet and
so assured a smile that the squire, fond as he was of "precise"
information, was in want of no fuller answer to his question.

"Ay, ay, young lady," said he, looking at her with all a father's
affection, "I see how it is. And, come now, what do you turn away for?
Dost think, if, as I believe, though there are envious persons in
the world, as there always are when a man's handsome or clever or
brave,--though, by the way, which is a very droll thing in my eyes, they
don't envy, at least not ill-naturedly, a man for being a lord or rich,
but, quite on the contrary, rank and money seem to make them think one
has all the cardinal virtues. Humph! If, I say, this Mr. Clifford should
turn out to be a gentleman of family,--for you know that is essential,
since the Brandons have, as my brother has probably told you, been a
great race many centuries ago,--dost think, my child, that thou couldst
give up (the cat is out of the bag) this old lord, and marry a simple
gentleman?"

The hand which the squire had held was now with an arch tenderness
applied to his mouth, and when he again seized it Lucy hid her glowing
face in his bosom; and it was only by a whisper, as if the very air was
garrulous, that he could draw forth (for now he insisted on a verbal
reply) her happy answer.

We are not afraid that our reader will blame us for not detailing the
rest of the interview between the father and daughter: it did not last
above an hour longer; for the squire declared that, for his own part,
he hated more words than were necessary. Mr. Brandon was the first to
descend to the breakfast, muttering as he descended the stairs, "Well
now, hang me if I am not glad that's off (for I do not like to think
much of so silly a matter) my mind. And as for my brother, I sha' n't
tell him till it's all over and settled. And if he is angry, he and the
old lord may, though I don't mean to be unbrotherly, go to the devil
together!"

When the three were assembled at the breakfast-table, there could not,
perhaps, have been found anywhere a stronger contrast than that which
the radiant face of Lucy bor