The word had escaped her without any such meaning on her part,--had been spoken because she had feared to continue to contradict her uncle in the full completeness of a positive refusal.
She had regretted it as soon as it had been spoken, but she could not recall it.

She had seen in her uncle's eye and had heard in the tone of his voice for how much that word had been taken;--but it had gone forth from her mouth, and she could not now rob it of its meaning.

Adrian Urmand was to be back at Granpere in a few days--in ten days Michel Voss had said; and there were those ten days for her in which to resolve what she would do.

Now, as though sent from heaven, George had returned, in this very interval of time.

Might it not be that he would help her out of her difficulty?
If he would only tell her to remain single for his sake, she would certainly turn her back upon her Swiss lover, let her uncle say what he might.
She would make no engagement with George unless with her uncle's sanction; but a word, a look of love, would fortify her against that other marriage.
George, she thought, had come back a man more to be worshipped than ever, as far as appearance went.