Interference

A Novel.
BY B. M. CROKER, AUTHOR OF “PROPER PRIDE,” “PRETTY MISS NEVILLE,” “A BIRD OF PASSAGE,” “DIANA BARRINGTON,” “TWO MASTERS,” &c.
IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. II.
London: F. V. WHITE & CO., 31, SOUTHAMPTON STREET, STRAND, W.C. 1891.
PRINTED BY KELLY & CO., MIDDLE MILL, KINGSTON-ON-THAMES; AND GATE STREET, LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS, W.C.
INTERFERENCE.
“It is a familiar beast to man, and signifies love.”
—Merry Wives of Windsor.
Betty had been unremitting in her attention to Miss Dopping all through the winter, and her virtue was not to be her sole reward! The old lady hired a pair of posters, and drove out to Noone in her mother’s green chariot, and had a long private interview with Mrs. Redmond. She was going to the Moores of Roskeen for a week, and they had asked her to bring Betty.—It would be by no means Betty’s first visit to that part of the world. She and Kathleen Moore were bosom friends; indeed she was a great favourite with the whole family. But this visit would be a more solemn occasion; as Miss Dopping represented to Mrs. Redmond, her young friend was now eighteen, it was manifestly high time she came out; she might make her début at Lord Enniscorthy’s ball. She might go with the Moores, and Miss Dopping herself would chaperone her, and provide her dress! Mrs. Redmond hesitated. Ought not Betty to come out under her wing?
“Not at all, my good creature,” replied the other promptly. “You have your own chick to look after” (“and a pretty old chick too,” she remarked inwardly). “I’ve known Betty long before you ever heard of her existence. She is my child. I owe her many a pleasant hour, and she shall owe some pleasant hours to me.”
Miss Dopping was fully determined to carry her point, and when she took her leave, Mrs. Redmond had given her a promise to “see about it,” and let her know before post time next day.
Now promising to “see about it,” really meant consulting Belle. What would she say to Betty’s coming out? Strange to say Belle bore the news surprisingly well! It was true that she was a little jealous of her cousin appearing with éclat in the suite of the Moores, for the Moores were great social magnates, and took but scant notice of Belle and her mother. (They were strangers in a county where it takes ten years at least to ingratiate yourself with the old residents.)