It
appeared, for instance, that it was only an accident, some years before,
which had revealed to Diana the very existence of these cousins. Her
father had never spoken of them spontaneously.
"I hope she will be everything that is charming and delightful," he said
at last as he rose. "And remember--I am to come and see you!"
He stooped his gray head, and gently touched her hand with an old man's
freedom.
Diana warmly renewed her invitation.
"There is a house near you that I often go to--Sir William Felton's. I
am to be there in a few weeks. Perhaps I shall even be able to make
acquaintance with Miss Fanny!"
He walked away from her.
Diana could not see the instant change of countenance which accompanied
the movement. Urbanity, gentleness, kind indulgence vanished. Sir James
looked anxious and disturbed; and he seemed to be talking to himself.
The rest of the morning passed heavily. Diana wrote some letters, and
devoutly hoped the rain would stop. In the intervals of her
letter-writing, or her study of the clouds, she tried to make friends
with Miss Drake and Mrs. Fotheringham. But neither effort came to good.
Alicia, so expansive, so theatrical, so much the centre of the
situation, when she chose, could be equally prickly, monosyllabic, and
repellent when it suited her to be so.
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