"Oh! not for the world, my dearest Lady Boileau, not for the world,—besides,—I just recollect—Lord Baskerville had some idea we should not go at all;"—at that instant arrives Lord Baskerville himself, and forgetting his acquired manner, he opened the box-door somewhat abruptly, and in his natural gay agreeable way, such as is his own when he ceases to remember he is an exclusive, he said, addressing Lady Baskerville,
"I have this instant had an invitation for you, which I am sure you will accept with pleasure: it is from Lady Ellersby to go to Restormel."
"Dear! la! Lord Baskerville, how odd you are—that is so like you—to have forgot—and Lady Ellersby too, she must have forgotten, don't you know we were asked a fortnight ago."
"Ah—hem! very true," and taking the hint which Lady Baskerville had given him by an expressive glance, "hem! I had really forgotten, I always forget those sort of things, hem!"
"Yes, and you said then, if you remember, that you would not go, for that you thought of visiting Tunbridge, as you always conceived Restormel to be a dull, damp place, and so unwholesome, with its quantity of trees and stagnant water."
"Ay—so I did,—hem! very true, and so it is, and now you put me in mind, I rather suppose we, that is I, shall not go, for of course your ladyship will do as you chuse."
Lady Boileau, though young in years, was too old a bird of fashion to be caught with chaff, she saw through this matrimonial manœuvre, but was too prudent to let her perception be seen; and in regard to Lady Baskerville's refusal on the subject of Restormel, she pretended to take it as the latter intended it should be taken, and her outward appearance remained unruffled, but at the same time it was marked in the tablets of her memory, as a token of friendship not to be forgotten.
"Indeed," replied Lady Boileau, in answer to Lord Baskerville's last remark, "you are both quite right, Restormel is a dull place, and I advise you to secure a party for Tunbridge, in which I shall be most happy to join you."
"I will think about it, hem!" replied Lord Baskerville, "and consult the Comtesse Leinsengen," and thus he bowed out of the box. Shortly after, Lady Baskerville feigned a very bad head-ache and retired before the end of the ballet. Not so Lady Boileau; she watched Lady Ellersby's movements, and contrived to meet her in the room just at the very moment when the crowd prevented her escaping.
"What do you think I have been doing all night?" Lady Boileau asked?