"Assurement laissez moi faire."—And here Lady Ellersby, looking at her watch, started from her chair, saying, "Dear me! I had no notion it was so late. I had an appointment with my Lord, and it is past the time. Bless me! what shall I do?" Then making her adieu, with more vivacity than was her custom, she departed in greater haste than she was ever known to do before.
"Who is her Milord just now?" asked Comtesse Leinsengen.
"Oh fie! malicieuse," replied Lady Tilney.
"Is it again dat little consequential personage who looks like a perdrix santé aux truffes? I fancy I saw something like a réchauffé getting up between them de oder night at Lady De Chere's."
"Now really, my dear Comtesse, I must defend my friend. People are always so ill-natured—one must have some cavalier, you know, to walk about with in public—and scandal always ascribes evil where none exists. No, no; Lady Ellersby has too charming a husband for this to gain credit for a moment." The Comtesse's usual shrug implied comme vous voulez, and she added, "it is truly extraordinary how any body can call dat ladi handsome, vid her drawn mouth and peevish expression!"
"Surely she has a sweet smile?"—"When it is not a bitter one," rejoined the Comtesse; "but what sinifies? she does very well for what she is good for. Now I must go, and you must be de active agent in settling our Lady Parliament; as for me, I will have a sinecure post."
"You are quite delightful, Comtesse, and ought to have every thing your own way; so good bye, if you must go. I will remember to see Prince Luttermanne; I will not let the matter rest—adieu," and they kissed each other's cheeks on both sides, "adieu!"—"You will not let de matter rest—no, I am sure you will not—nor any oder ting or person," thought the Comtesse, as she glided out of the room. "How frightfully red her nose is become," observed Lady Tilney, soliloquizing, as she looked at her own smooth cream-coloured skin in the glass.