Lady Tintern was pleased to leave Paddington by a much earlier train than could have been expected.

She hired a fly, and a pair of broken-kneed horses, at Brawnton, and once more took her relations at Hewelscourt by surprise.

On this occasion, however, she was not fortunate enough to find her invalid niece at play in the stable-yard, though she detected her at luncheon, and warmly congratulated her upon her robust appearance and her excellent appetite.
Her journey had, no doubt, been undertaken with the very intentions Sarah had described; but another motive also prompted her, which Sarah had not divined.
Much as she desired to marry her grand-niece to Lord Avonwick, she was not blind to the young man's personal disadvantages, which were undeniable; and which Peter had rudely summed up in a word by alluding to his rival as an ass.

He was distinguished among the admirers of Miss Sarah's red and white beauty by his brainlessness no less than by his eligibility.
Nevertheless, Lady Tintern had favoured his suit.

She knew him to be a good fellow, although he was a simpleton, and she was very sure that he loved Sarah sincerely.
"Whoever the girl marries, she will rule him with a rod of iron.