“A handsome face?”
“Handsome, is it? I dare say.”
“What does Lily say?”
“About what?”
“About Mr. Chillingly. Does she not think him handsome?”
“I never asked her.”
“My dear Mrs. Cameron, would it not be a very pretty match for Lily? The Chillinglys are among the oldest families in Burke’s ‘Landed Gentry,’ and I believe his father, Sir Peter, has a considerable property.”
For the first time in this conversation Mrs. Cameron betrayed emotion. A sudden flush overspread her countenance, and then left it paler than before. After a pause she recovered her accustomed composure, and replied, rudely,—
“It would be no friend to Lily who could put such notions into her head; and there is no reason to suppose that they have entered into Mr. Chillingly’s.”
“Would you be sorry if they did? Surely you would like your niece to marry well, and there are few chances of her doing so at Moleswich.”