Did she not know that John Hammond was as far above average youth as Helvellyn was above yonder mound in her grandmother's shrubbery?
Yes, he would succeed in literature, in politics, in whatever career he had chosen for himself.

He was a man to do the thing he set himself to do, were it ever so difficult.

To doubt his success would be to doubt his truth and his honesty; for he had sworn to her he would make her life bright and happy, and that evil days should never come to her; and he was not the man to promise that which he was not able to perform.
The house seemed terribly dull now that the two young men were gone.
There was an oppressive silence in the rooms which had lately resounded with Maulevrier's frank, boyish laughter, and with his friend's deep, manly tones--a silence broken only by the click of Fraeulein Mueller's needles.
The Fraeulein was not disposed to be sympathetic or agreeable about Lady Mary's engagement.

Firstly, she had not been consulted about it.

The thing had been done, she considered, in an underhand manner; and Lady Maulevrier, who had begun by strenuously opposing the match, had been talked over in a way that proved the latent weakness of that great lady's character.