Francis Markrute also saw his niece at breakfast--or rather--just after it.

She was finishing hers in the little upstairs sitting-room which he had allotted to her for her personal use, when he tapped at the door and asked if he might come in.
She said "yes," and then rose, with the ceremonious politeness she always used in her dealings with him--contemptuous, resentful politeness for the most part.
"I have come to settle the details of your marriage," he said, while he waved her to be seated again and took a chair himself.

At the word "marriage" her nostrils quivered, but she said nothing.

She was always extremely difficult to deal with, on account of these silences of hers.
She helped no one out.

Francis Markrute knew the method himself and admired it; it always made the other person state his case.
"You saw Lord Tancred last night.