None the less, she could see that something was at the back of it all.

There was Storri's sigh as though a heart had broken.

Had Storri made some soft advance, and had Dorothy repulsed him?
Mrs.Hanway-Harley could have shaken the girl! Storri read all this in Mrs.Hanway-Harley's face as though it had been written upon paper.

He saw that the mother would be his ally; Mrs.
Hanway-Harley was ready to enlist upon his side.

Thereupon, Storri drew himself together with dignity.
"In my own land, madam," said Storri, conveying the impression of a limitless deference for Mrs.Hanway-Harley, "it is not permitted that a gentleman pay his addresses to the daughter until he has her mother's consent.