"Lord George is quite right," chimed in Mrs. Gore Hampton; "half of these things are purely accidental. I remember so well my uncle writing to beg that the tutor of his boys might get some small thing in the Church, just at the moment when the bishop of the diocese had died, and the minister, reading the letter carelessly,—my uncle's hand is very hard to decipher,—mistook the object of the request, and appointed him to the bishopric."
"In that case," remarked my father, dryly, "I think Mrs. D. had better indite an epistle to the Home Office."
And, although this was said in a sneer, the laughter that followed went far to restore us all to good-humor, particularly as Lord George took the opportunity of explaining to Mrs. Gore Hampton what had occurred, bespeaking her aid and influence in our behalf.
"It is so absurd," said she, "that one should have any difficulty about these things, but such is the case. The Duchess will be certain to make excuses; she cannot ask for something, because she is 'in waiting,' or she is not in waiting. Lord Harrowcliff is sure to tell me that he has just been refused a request, and cannot subject himself to another humiliation; but I always reply, these are most selfish arguments, and that I really must have what I want; that a refusal always attacks my nerves, and that I will not be ill merely to indulge a caprice of theirs. What is it Mr. James wants?"
There was something so practical in this short question, Bob, something so decisive, that had she been talking the rankest absurdity but the moment before, we should have forgotten it all in an instant.
"A mere nothing," replied Lord George. "You'll smile when you hear what we 're making such a fuss about." As he said these words, he muttered in the governor's ear, "It's all right now; she detests asking a favor, but, if she will stoop to it—" An expressive gesture implied that success was certain.
"Well, you have n't told me what it is," said she again.
Lord George passed round to the back of her chair, and whispered a few words. She replied in the same low tone, and then they both laughed.
"You don't mean to say," cried she, turning to my father, "that you have experienced any difficulty about this trifle?"
The governor blundered out some bashful confession, that he had encountered the most extraordinary obstacles to his wishes.