"Yes, godmother mine, and prepare yourselves at dinner, for Hebe, who waits, will be an equal."
"Never!" said her companions in same breath.
"'Tis true, 'tis pity, and pity 'tis 'tis true;' at some signal or given time, Isabel says the servants are dismissed when some of the ladies wait, bearing the cup, or, etc."
"I must say I should object, 'however bright, however young' my Hebe," said Trevalyon; "her train would surely become entangled, and I defy Jupiter to be sweetly calm with iced champagne spilled down his neck or on to his knee."
"I should say not," said Lady Esmondet; "a most preposterous novelty to introduce."
"Isabel says everything at table; takes the usual routine when there is a state dinner."
"I should hope so."
"When alone (that is with merely the home guests), she says they frequently wear some fancy costume at dinner."
"What! changes; but I suppose I am old-fashioned," said Lady Esmondet.
"And so am I, for I should feel as ill at ease, as the family portraits, could one invest them with speech and hear their lamentations," said Trevalyon.