"I thought you said he admired her daughter," put in Miss Browning to
her irritated friend.
"Well! perhaps I did, and perhaps it was so; I'm sure I can't tell;
he was a great deal at the house. Miss Dixon keeps a school in the
same house now, and I'm sure she does it a great deal better."
"The earl and the countess are very fond of Mrs. Gibson," said Miss
Browning. "I know, for Lady Harriet told us when she came to drink
tea with us last autumn; and they desired Mr. Preston to be very
attentive to her when she lived at Ashcombe."
"For goodness' sake don't go and repeat what I've been saying
about Mr. Preston and Mrs. Kirkpatrick to her ladyship. One may be
mistaken, and you know I only said 'people talked about it.'"
Miss Hornblower was evidently alarmed lest her gossip should be
repeated to the Lady Harriet, who appeared to be on such an intimate
footing with her Hollingford friends. Nor did Miss Browning dissipate
the illusion. Lady Harriet had drunk tea with them, and might do it
again; and, at any rate, the little fright she had put her friend
into was not a bad return for that praise of Mr. Roscoe, which had
offended Miss Browning's loyalty to Mr. Gibson.
Meanwhile Miss Piper and Miss Phoebe, who had not the character of
_esprit-forts_ to maintain, talked of the dresses of the people
present, beginning by complimenting each other.
"What a lovely turban you have got on, Miss Piper, if I may be
allowed to say so: so becoming to your complexion!"
"Do you think so?" said Miss Piper, with ill-concealed gratification;
it was something to have a "complexion" at forty-five. "I got it
at Brown's, at Somerton, for this very ball. I thought I must have
something to set off my gown, which isn't quite so new as it once
was; and I have no handsome jewellery like you"--looking with
admiring eyes at a large miniature set round with pearls, which
served as a shield to Miss Phoebe's breast.
"It is handsome," that lady replied. "It is a likeness of my dear
mother; Dorothy has got my father on. The miniatures were both taken
at the same time; and just about then my uncle died and left us each
a legacy of fifty pounds, which we agreed to spend on the setting of
our miniatures. But because they are so valuable Dorothy always keeps
them locked up with the best silver, and hides the box somewhere; she
never will tell me where, because she says I've such weak nerves, and
that if a burglar, with a loaded pistol at my head, were to ask me
where we kept our plate and jewels, I should be sure to tell him; and
she says, for her part, she would never think of revealing under any
circumstances. (I'm sure I hope she won't be tried.) But that's the
reason I don't wear it often; it's only the second time I've had it
on; and I can't even get at it, and look at it, which I should like
to do. I shouldn't have had it on to-night, but that Dorothy gave
it out to me, saying it was but a proper compliment to pay to the
Duchess of Menteith, who is to be here in all her diamonds."