She was so
sure that Mrs. Vanderpoel would like to hear how well Lady Anstruthers
was looking, that she ventured to write. Betty's effect upon the county
was made quite clear, as also was the interested expectation of her
appearance in town next season. Mr. Vanderpoel, perhaps, gathered more
from the letter than his wife did. In her mind, relieved happiness and
consternation were mingled.
"Do you think, Reuben, that Betty will marry that Lord Westholt?" she
rather faltered. "He seems very nice, but I would rather she married an
American. I should feel as if I had no girls at all, if they both lived
in England."
"Lady Bowen gives him a good character," her husband said, smiling. "But
if anything untoward happens, Annie, you shall have a house of your own
half way between Dunholm Castle and Stornham Court."
When he had begun to decide that Lord Westholt did not seem to be the
man Fate was veering towards, he not unnaturally cast a mental eye over
such other persons as the letters mentioned. At exactly what period his
thought first dwelt a shade anxiously on Mount Dunstan he could not have
told, but he at length became conscious that it so dwelt. He had begun
by feeling an interest in his story, and had asked questions about him,
because a situation such as his suggested query to a man of affairs.
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