"I did; but no letters were consigned to my care by her ladyship."
"It is very strange," returned Lady Wetheral, "that only one letter has reached us from Italy within twelve months!"
"Every body expected it!" said Mrs. Pynsent.
"I do not understand—I cannot quite comprehend your remark," replied her ladyship, bending gently forward, and sinking gracefully into her first attitude.
"Every body knew you had given your daughter to a weak man, governed by his mother; and every body expected the poor girl would be carried from her friends. Who ever heard of the old Lady Ennismore, and did not learn that she was a tartar!"
Lady Wetheral changed the subject.
"You have probably brought some beautiful specimens of the different arts, Sir John? Italy is full of rare antiquities."
"I have brought home a few things—a few pictures, and so forth, as all travellers are expected to do," replied Sir John Spottiswoode. "I hope Miss Wetheral will accept a little drawing of Naples, which I mean to present on one knee."
Lady Wetheral smiled.