"I think, Madame Gordeloup, you know my brother's sister-in-law, Lady Ongar?"
"What, Julie? Of course I know Julie. Julie and I are dear friends."
"So I supposed. That is the reason why I have come to you."
"Well;—well;—well?"
"Lady Ongar is a person whom I have known for a long time, and for whom I have a great,—I may say a very deep regard."
"Ah! yes. What a jointure she has! and what a park! Thousands and thousands of pounds,—and so beautiful! If I was a man I should have a very deep regard too. Yes."
"A most beautiful creature;—is she not?"
"Ah; if you had seen her in Florence, as I used to see her, in the long summer evenings! Her lovely hair was all loose to the wind, and she would sit hour after hour looking, oh, at the stars! Have you seen the stars in Italy?"
Captain Clavering couldn't say that he had, but he had seen them uncommon bright in Norway, when he had been fishing there.
"Or the moon?" continued Sophie, not regarding his answer. "Ah; that is to live! And he, her husband, the rich lord, he was dying,—in a little room just inside, you know. It was very melancholy, Captain Clavering. But when she was looking at the moon, with her hair all dishevelled," and Sophie put her hands up to her own dirty nightcap, "she was just like a Magdalen; yes, just the same;—just the same."