As ill-luck would have it, the young man had then ceased his conversation with the chairman of the quarter sessions, and with arms folded, brow contracted, and looks, earnest, anxious, and intent, was contemplating the whispered conference between Lucretia and Vernon.
Sir Miles's eye had followed his secretary's, and his face changed.

His hand fell on the chess board and upset half the men; he uttered a very audible "Zounds!" "I think, Sir Miles," said the Provencal, rising, as if conscious that Sir Miles wished to play no more,--"I think that if you spoke soon to Miss Clavering as to your views with regard to Mr.Vernon, it might ripen matters; for I have heard it said by French mothers--and our Frenchwomen understand the female heart, sir--that a girl having no other affection is often prepossessed at once in favour of a man whom she knows beforehand is prepared to woo and to win her, whereas without that knowledge he would have seemed but an ordinary acquaintance." "It is shrewdly said, my dear Monsieur Dalibard; and for more reasons than one, the sooner I speak to her the better.

Lend me your arm.

It is time for supper; I see the dance is over." Passing by the place where Mainwaring still leaned, the baronet looked at him fixedly.

The young man did not notice the gaze.