"
Old Cockletown looked keenly at her, and their eyes met; but, after a
long and steady gaze, the eyes of the old peer quailed, and he felt,
when put to an encounter with hers, that to which was attributed such
extraordinary influence. There sparkled in her steady black orb a
venomous exultation, mingled with a spirit of strong and contemptuous
derision, which made the eccentric old nobleman feel rather
uncomfortable. His eye fell, and, considering his age, it was decidedly
a keen one. He fidgeted upon the chair--he coughed, hemmed, then looked
about the room, and at length exclaimed, rather in a soliloquy,--
"Second fiddle! egad, I'm afraid had we been man and wife I should never
have got beyond it. Poor Lindsay! It's confoundedly odd, though."
"Well, Mrs. Lindsay--ahem--pray proceed, madam; let us come to the
property. How does your son stand in that respect?"
"He will have twelve hundred a year, my lord."
"I told you before, Mrs. Lindsay, that I--don't like the future
tense--the present for me. What has he?"
"It can scarcely be called the future tense, my lord, which you seem to
abhor so much.
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