“Now, my dear, don’t you be foolish! It would be so much to Edmund’s advantage! He was in the same regiment with Lord Henry, and you might have the best society in the county, if only you would make your new drive! Why, even Lady Hartman says she can’t take her horses again through that lane, or into the farm court. Miss Yates said it was quite disgusting.”
Mary Carbonel might laugh. She did not care for her own dignity, but she did for Edmund’s; and though she had been amused at Lady Hartman’s four horses entangled in the narrow sweep, and did not quite believe old Captain Caiger, the lady herself had been very charming, and Mary did not like to cut her husband and sisters off from the pleasantest houses in the country.
But the words, “Love not the world,” came up into her mind, and the battle ended by her saying to her husband—
“Don’t let us have the approach this year, dear Edmund. I don’t want it to be Mary’s reproach.”
“You are quite sure? In spite of Caiger?”
“Indeed I am; though I am afraid it is asking you to give up something.”
“Not while I have my merry faces at home, Mary. And indeed, little woman, I am glad of your decision. It is right.”
“I am so glad!”