garrulous, that he could draw forth (for now he insisted on a verbal
reply) her happy answer.

We are not afraid that our reader will blame us for not detailing the
rest of the interview between the father and daughter: it did not last
above an hour longer; for the squire declared that, for his own part, he
hated more words than were necessary. Mr. Brandon was the first to
descend to the breakfast, muttering as he descended the stairs, "Well
now, hang me if I am not glad that's off (for I do not like to think much
of so silly a matter) my mind. And as for my brother, I sha' n't tell
him till it's all over and settled. And if he is angry, he and the old
lord may, though I don't mean to be unbrotherly, go to the devil
together!"

When the three were assembled at the breakfast-table, there could not,
perhaps, have been found anywhere a stronger contrast than that which the
radiant face of Lucy bore to the haggard and worn expression that
disfigured the handsome features of her lover. So marked was the change
that one night seemed to have wrought upon Clifford, that even the squire
was startled and alarmed at it. But Lucy, whose innocent vanity pleased
itself with accounting for the alteration, consoled herself with the hope
of soon witnessing a very different expression on the countenance of her
lover; and though she was silent, and her happiness lay quiet and deep
within her, yet in her eyes and lip there was that which seemed to
Clifford an insult to his own misery, and stung him to the heart.
However, he exerted himself to meet the conversation of the squire, and
to mask as well as he was able the evidence of the conflict which still
raged within him.

The morning was wet and gloomy; it was that drizzling and misty rain