“Ah, M. Champcey! I did not expect that from you. Poor Sarah! To think
that I could not spare her such a humiliation! But it is the last; and
this very morning, as soon as she wakes, she shall know that all is
ended. I have just sent for my daughter to tell her that the day for
the wedding is fixed. All the formalities are fulfilled. We have the
necessary papers”--
He paused, for Henrietta came in.
“You wish to speak to me, papa?” she said as she entered the room.
“Yes.”
Greeting Daniel with a sweet glance of her eyes, Henrietta walked up to
the count, and offered him her forehead to kiss; but he pushed her back
rudely, and said, assuming an air of supreme solemnity,--
“I have sent for you, my daughter, to inform you that to-morrow
fortnight I shall marry Miss Brandon.”
Henrietta must have been prepared for something of the kind, for she
did not move. She turned slightly pale; and a ray of wrath shot from her
eyes. The count went on,--
“Under these circumstances, it is not proper, it is hardly decent, that
you should not know her who is to be your mother hereafter. I shall
therefore present you to her this very day, in the afternoon.”