"Where?"
"To the theatre! Oh, mamma, it was so nice! You know, I never was in one before."
Lucia clasped her hands, and looked up at her mother with such a perfectly innocent, childish, face of delight, that it was impossible not to laugh.
"What a day of dissipation!"
"Yes; but just for once, you know. And I could not help it."
"I do not see why you should have wished to help it. How about your French? Could you understand the play?"
"Pretty well. It was very shocking, you know. Lady Dighton says the best French plays always are. I cried a little, and I was so ashamed of myself; only I saw some other people crying too, so then I did not mind so much."
"You did not really see much of Lady Dighton, then, if you were driving all afternoon and at the theatre all evening?"
"Oh! yes; we had a long talk before dinner. When we came in, she said, 'Now, Maurice, you must just amuse yourself how you can for an hour. Sir John has English papers to read, and Miss Costello and I are going to my room to have a chat.' So she took me off to her dressing-room, and we were by ourselves there for quite an hour."
"In which time, I suppose, you talked about everything in heaven and earth."