We shall have lunch at once; I'll do most of the talking whilst the servants are about; you just answer quietly.' These instructions were interesting, but not altogether indispensable; Alice Maud had by this time a very pretty notion of how to conduct herself in the presence of menials.

The trying moment was on entering the house; it was very hard indeed not to utter her astonishment and delight at the dimensions of the hall and the handsome staircase.
This point safely passed, she resigned herself to splendour, and was conducted to her room in a sort of romantic vision.

The Manor satisfied her idea of the ancestral mansion so frequently described or alluded to in the fiction of her earlier years.

If her mind had just now reverted to Mr.Keene, which of course it did not, she would have smiled very royally indeed.
When she entered the drawing-room, clad in that best gown which her brother had needlessly requested her to bring, and saw that Richard was standing on the hearth-rug quite alone, she could no longer contain herself, but bounded towards him like a young fawn, and threw her arms on his neck.
'Oh, Dick,' she whispered, 'what a thing it is to be rich! How ever did we live so long in the old way! If I had to go back to it now I should die of misery.' 'Let's have a look at you,' he returned, holding her at arm's length.
'Yes, I think that'll about do.

Now mind you don't let them see that you're excited about it.