“Let as ask him to dinner,” said Lady Lackington; “I know him sufficiently to do so,—that is, I have met him once. He 'll be charmed, of course; and if there is anything very good and very safe to be done on the Bourse, he 'll certainly tell us.”
“I don't care for the Bourse. Indeed, I have nothing to speculate with.”
“That is the best reason in the world, my dear, to make a venture; at least, so my brother-in-law, Annesley, says. You are certain to come out a winner, and in my own brief experiences, I never gave anything,—I only said, 'Yes, I 'll have the shares.' They were at fifty-eight and three-quarters, they said, and sure to be at sixty-four or five; and they actually did rise to seventy, and then we sold—that is, Dunn did—and remitted me twelve hundred and fifty-three pounds odd.”
“I wish he could be equally fortunate with me. I don't mean as regards money,” said Lady Grace; and her cheek became crimson as she spoke.
“I have always said there's a fate in these things; and who knows if his being here Just at this moment is not a piece of destiny.”
“It might be so,” said the other, sadly.
“There,” said Lady Lackington, as she rapidly wrote a few lines on a piece of note-paper, “that ought to do:—
“'Dear Mr. Dunn,—If you will accept of an early dinner,
with Lady Grace Twining and myself for the company, to-day,
you will much oblige
“'Your truly,
“'Georgina Lackington.'”
“To another kind of man I'd have said something about two pauvres femmes délaissées, but he 'd have been frightened, and probably not come.”
“Probably,” said Lady Grace, with a sigh.