"
"Don't accept the offer, Gillian. Don't go," said Dick Taverner, whose
breast was full of uneasiness.
"Your answer, my pretty maiden?" the Countess said, with a winning
smile.
"I am much beholden to you, my lady," Gillian replied, "and it will
delight me to serve you as you propose--that is, if I have my
grandsire's consent to it."
"And the good man, I am sure, has your welfare too much at heart to
withhold it," the Countess replied. "But follow me to the palace, and we
will confer further upon the matter. Inquire for the Countess of
Exeter's apartments." And with another gracious smile, she rejoined the
cavalcade, leaving Lord Roos behind. He thanked her with a look for her
complaisance.
"O Gillian, I am sure ill will come of this," Dick Taverner exclaimed.
"Wherefore should it?" she rejoined, almost beside herself with delight
at the brilliant prospect suddenly opened before her. "My fortune is
made."
"You are right, my pretty damsel, it is," Lord Roos remarked. "Fail not
to do as the Countess has directed you, and I will answer for the rest."
"You hear what the kind young nobleman says, grandsire?" Gillian
whispered in his ear. "You cannot doubt his assurance?"
"I hear it all," old Greenford replied; "but I know not what to think. I
suppose we must go to the palace."
"To be sure we must," Gillian cried; "I will go there alone, if you will
not go with me."
Satisfied with what he had heard, Lord Roos moved away, nodding approval
at Gillian.
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