"Oh, I've no doubt you'll find plenty to amuse you," she said. "The

country is delightful----"

"Oh, I'm rather fed up with the country," said Lady Heyton. "I've lived

in it all my life, you see--one of a poor country parson's superfluous

daughters. Oh, I've had enough of muddy lanes and stupid local people.

Give me London--and life. One doesn't live in the country, one only

exists, like a vegetable. Do you like my dress?" she asked, with her

irrelevant abruptness; and she cast a complacent eye down her

exquisitely-clad figure.

"It is a very beautiful one," said Celia.

Advertisement..

"Paris. The worst of Paris is that, once you have had it, everything

else seems dowdy. By the way, that's a very pretty frock you're

wearing," she added, with an appraising glance.

"I'm glad you like it," said Celia, laughing. "I made it myself."

"Really! How clever you must be! Oh, of course, in the old days I've

made dresses myself; but they were always sights. Yes; you must be very

clever; you have good taste, evidently. I've got a maid who's a perfect

fool; perhaps, sometimes, you won't mind giving her a hint or lending

her a hand?"

"Why, I should be very pleased to do so," said Celia; "though I'm afraid

she will not consider my advice or assistance of any great value, Lady

Heyton."

"How nicely you said that!" said Miriam, again looking up at Celia,

curiously. She possessed intelligence enough to discern, at the first

glance, that Celia was not the common, ordinary type of girl she had

expected to see; but the repose of Celia's attitude, the timbre of her

voice, were making their due impression. "But, of course, you would

speak nicely, having to do with books and all that sort of thing. Do you

like the Marquess?" she asked, slipping off to another subject, with her

usual irrelevance. "He is very stern and grim; and I must confess I'm

almost afraid of him. He is quite different from Percy; they're scarcely

like father and son--I mean my husband, of course."

"I don't think the Marquess is very stern or hard," said Celia,

musingly. "I have only spoken to him once, but he seemed very kind," she

added, with a certain hesitation; for she remembered that he had been

somewhat stern in the matter of the portrait.

"Oh, I dare say it's only his manner," said Lady Heyton; "and I suppose

I'm not a favoured person. You see, he was opposed to our marriage: poor

parson's daughter, you know."




Most Popular