'Then I'll stay at home on purpose to see you. News is always delightful. Is it good news, by-the-bye?'
'Very good; at least, I think so.'
'What is it about?'
'Oh! that's a long story, and the curtain is just going up. The news is about Mary.'
'About Mary!' exclaimed Lesbia, elevating her eyebrows. 'What news can there possibly be about Mary?'
'Such news as there generally is about every nice jolly girl, at least once in her life.'
'You don't mean that she is engaged—to a curate?'
'No, not to a curate. There goes the curtain. "I'll see you later," as the Yankee President used to say when people bothered him, and he didn't like to say no.'
Engaged: Mary engaged! The idea of such an altogether unexpected event distracted Lesbia's mind all through the last act of the Demi-monde. She hardly knew what the actors were talking about. Mary, her younger sister! Mary, a good looking girl enough, but by no means a beauty, and with manners utterly unformed. That Mary should be engaged to be married, while she, Lesbia, was still free, seemed an obvious absurdity.
And yet the fact was, on reflection, easily to be accounted for. These unattractive girls are generally the first to bind themselves with the vows of betrothal. Lady Kirkbank had told her of many such cases. The poor creatures know that their chances will be few, and therefore gratefully welcome the first wooer.