This description of delight on his sister's part was the first instalment of that joy which he had promised himself from the satisfaction of his family.
Lady Fitzgerald had watched all that had passed, and had already learned her mistake--her mistake in that she had prophesied that no immediate proposal was likely to be made by her son.

She now knew well enough that he had made such a proposal, and that he had been accepted.
And this greatly grieved her.

She had felt certain from the few slight words which Sir Thomas had spoken that there were valid reasons why her son should not marry a penniless girl.

That conversation, joined to other things, to the man's visit, and her husband's deep dejection, had convinced her that all was not right.
Some misfortune was impending over them, and there had been that in her own early history which filled her with dismay as she thought of this.
She had ardently desired to caution her son in this respect,--to guard him, if possible, against future disappointment and future sorrow.

But she could not do so without obtaining in some sort her husband's assent to her doing so.