"I need not tell you, my dear count," said Miss Sarah, "that your
friends are always welcome here."

Then, turning to Daniel, she added,--

"Besides, I have long since known you."

"Me?"

"Yes, sir. And I even know that you are one of the most frequent
visitors at Count Ville-Handry's house."

She looked at Daniel with a kind of malicious simplicity, and then
added,

"_I_ do not mean to say that the count would not be wrong if he
attributed your frequent visits exclusively to his own merits. I have
heard something of a certain young lady"--

"Sarah," here broke in Mrs. Brian, "what you say there is highly
improper." This reproof, so far from checking Miss Sarah's merriment,
only seemed to increase it. Without losing sight of Daniel, she turned
to her aunt, and said,--

"Since the count is not opposed to this gentleman's paying his
attentions to his daughter, I think I may safely speak of them. It would
be such an extraordinary thing, if any thing should happen to interfere
with his hopes!"

Daniel, who had blushed all over, suddenly became deadly pale. After all