The Count has proposed to my Aunt Gwendolin, and she has accepted him. Grandmother is in tears ever since, and Uncle Theodore is furious. I heard the latter talking to my grandmother—in his excitement he seemed to forget my presence—and he said:

"That Frenchman is just a fortune-hunter, one of those penniless, titled gentry that swarm in Europe. He wants Gwendolin's money to regild a tarnished title, and Gwendolin wants the title! He has found out from Arabella Delancy the size of Gwendolin's fortune, in possession and in prospective, and he has offered his title in exchange for it! That's the size of the whole affair!"

"That's what grieves me most," said grandmother, with quivering lip............