“Yes, sir; and you ought to be very thankful, Do you hear?”
“Yes,” he replied, taking and kissing one of her ladyship’s gardening gloves. “And now I must be for saying au revoir.”
“Au revoir, cher garçon!” replied her ladyship; and she followed her visitor out of the conservatory into the drawing-room, and rang the bell for the servant in attendance to show him out.
“It wouldn’t have been a bad slice of luck to have married her and had this place. But, good heavens, what an old hag!”
“I should have been an idiot to marry him,” said her ladyship, as soon as she was alone. “He is very handsome and gentlemanly and nice; but he would have ruined me, I am sure of that. Ah well, the sooner I find him someone else with a good income the better. Let him squander that. Why—”
She stopped short.
“How stupid of me! The very thing! Lady Anna Maria Morton has just come in for her brother’s estate.”
Lady Littletown stood thinking.
“She is fifty if she is a day, perhaps fifty-five, and as tremulous as Isabella Dymcox. But what of that? Dear Anna Maria! I have not called upon her for a fortnight. How wrong! I shall be obliged to have a little partie carrée to dinner. Let me see—Lady Anna Maria, Arthur, myself, and—dear, dear—dear, dear me! Who shall I have that is not stupid enough to spoil sport?”
She walked about in a fidgety manner, and then picked up her card-basket, raised the square gold eyeglass, and turned the cards over in an impatient manner.