For a moment Peter's head was giddy with the vision presented to his ambition and pride. The idea that his wife might become a countess, and his son a lord, dazzled him! But it was only while the titles were tinkling in his ears. The schoolmaster, in his threadbare coat before him, had first to become an English Earl before these dazzling dreams would be realized; and when he thought how little probability there was of that, he laughed with a sardonic aspect, and said contemptuously.