She was perfectly right. Upon Mrs. Scorton’s reappearance, she found herself confronted, not by the fool of his family, but by the Honourable Frederick Standen, a Pink of the Pinks, who knew to a nicety how to blend courtesy with hauteur, and who informed her, with exquisite politeness, that he rather fancied his cousin was tired, and would like to be taken home. One of the uninvited guests, entering the box in Eliza’s wake, ventured on a warm sally, found himself being inspected from head to foot through a quizzing-glass, and stammered an apology.
The eye, hideously magnified by the glass, continued to stare at him for an unnerving moment. “Ah, just so!” said Mr. Standen, letting the glass fall at last. “Come, Kit! Your very obedient, ma’am!”
He allowed his betrothed only time enough to utter a civil word of gratitude for a delightful party, and then bore her away, saying, as he shut the door of the box: “Obliged to take you home in a hack, Kit! Nothing for it!”
“You are welcome to take me home in a wheelbarrow!” she assured him.
“Wouldn’t do at all!” said Mr. Standen decidedly. “Sort of thing that would be bound to set people’s backs up. Besides, haven’t got a wheelbarrow!”
She gave a shaken laugh. “Oh, Freddy, how can you be so absurd, when you are so wise?”
Much struck, he said: “You think I’m wise? Me?”
“Of course I do! You always know just what one should do, and if only I had attended to you, when you warned me what would come of it, if I allowed myself to be drawn into poor Olivia’s set, I should not have fallen into this scrape. Are you very much displeased with me, Freddy?”
“No, no! Not your fault! Just not up to snuff!” he assured her.
“You are a great deal too kind to me!” she said, pressing his arm. “Indeed I am sorry, and so very grateful to you for rescuing me! I was in flat despair! Oh, but, Freddy, I could not help wishing you had been present at that dreadful dinner-party! Only, if you had been, and we had exchanged glances, I know I must have gone into whoops, so perhaps it is as well you were not! I sat beside Mr. Scorton, and he barely spoke a word, but ate and ate, until his face shone, and I don’t think he could speak!”