"De Vere would not like that much," he said, carelessly, without betraying his inward vexation.
She fanned herself rapidly with her pink satin fan for a moment, then said, with a keen glance at him:
"Lady Lancaster has formed a fine plan for showing him his folly and breaking off the affair."
"Really?" he inquired, sarcastically.
"Yes; she is quite sure that if he could once see this girl in the company of real ladies, he would see the difference and become disenchanted."
"Yes?"
"It seems as if the girl can play quite well," said Lady Adela, going on in her low, confidential tones. "And the ladies are all curious to see her. So Lady Lancaster is going to have her in to play for us, just for a pretext, you know; and then Lieutenant De Vere can not help seeing the difference between her and the women of his own set. Perhaps it will cure him of his fancy."
"Perhaps," said Lancaster, dryly; but his heart began to beat. Would Lady Lancaster really bring Leonora into the drawing-room? Something assured him that if she did it would only be to humiliate and snub her. He read this intuitively in Lady Adela's supercilious expression. His heart swelled with hot resentment. He rose hurriedly.
"She shall not send for her," he said; but the earl's daughter answered, with ill-concealed malice: