“The darling begged me to bring her up to see the delicious nest being prepared for her; but it was to be a stolen visit, for she said she could never look you in the face again if she thought you knew.”
“Dear girl!” ejaculated Elbraham. “Yes, she is so sweet and unworldly and innocent! Do you know, my dear Elbraham,” said Lady Littletown, “a man like you, for whom so many mothers were bidding—”
“Ah, yes, I used to get a few invitations,” said Elbraham complacently.
“I used to hear how terribly you flirted at Lady Millet’s with those two daughters,” said Lady Littletown playfully.
“By George! no. However, the old woman was always asking me to her at-homes and dinners, and to that wedding; but I never went.”
“I knew it,” said Lady Littletown to herself. “How mad she must be! Ah me!” she continued mournfully, “there are times when I feel as if I have done wrong in furthering this match.”
“The deuce you do! Why?” ejaculated Elbraham. “Because my sweet Clotilde is so unused to the ways of the world, and it is such a terrible stride from her present home to the head of such an establishment as this.”
“Oh, that be hanged!” cried Elbraham. “’Tis a change, of course—a precious great change from those skimpily-furnished apartments at Hampton Court.”
“But show is not everything, my dear Elbraham,” said Lady Littletown, laying a finger impressively upon the financier’s arm.
“No, it is not; but people like it. I’ll be bound to say Clotilde likes this place.”