“Parcel of old women! I shall ask the prettiest of the girls to hear him read his poems in my sitting-room.”
“Even if their mammas dare not refuse you, I doubt if the girls brave the wrath of their gallants, who would never countenance their meeting such a reprobate as Byam Warner——”
“You forget the despotism of curiosity.”
“Well, they might gratify that by meeting him once, but they will sound the beaux first. What do you suppose they come here for? Much they care for the beauty of the tropics and sulphur baths. The tropics are wondrous fine for making idle young gentlemen come to the point, and there isn’t a girl in Bath House who isn’t on the catch. Those that have fortunes want more, and most of them have too many brothers to think of marrying for love. Their genius for matrimony has made half the fame of Nevis, for they make Bath House so agreeable a place to run to from the fogs of London that more eligibles flock here every year. There isn’t a disinterested girl in Bath House unless it be Mary Denbigh, who has two thousand a year, has been disappointed in love, and is twenty-nine and six months.” She turned sharply to Anne, and demanded:
“Have you come here after a husband?”
“If you will ask my aunt I fancy she will reply in the affirmative,” said Anne, mischievously.
Mrs. Nunn coloured, and the others looked somewhat taken aback.
“That was not a very lady-like speech,” said Mrs. Nunn severely. “Moreover,” with great dignity, “I have found your society so agreeable, my dear, that I hope to enjoy it for several years to come.”
Anne, quick in response, felt repentant and touched, but Lady Constance remarked drily: