Was I right?

by Mrs. O. F. Walton

"Oh, Lilla, yes; isn't she nice?" said Evelyn, carelessly. "Every one seems to like poor Lilla."

"Why do you call her poor?" I asked.

"Oh, because she has had so much trouble," Evelyn answered; "she was engaged to a young officer a good many years ago, and it was broken off; his father persuaded him to marry some one with more money. Lilla is papa's first cousin, and she often stays here; it is very dull for her at home; her father has married again, and his new wife is such a horrid old thing, who treats Lilla as if she were a child of twelve. But Lilla never complains; she is very patient. And what did you think of Lady Eldridge?"

"I had rather not say, please, Evelyn; I do not think it is very kind to talk about people so much."

"Oh, it won't hurt Lady Eldridge, I assure you," she answered; "she is miles too high up in the world to be hurt by anything you or I may say or think of her—at least she thinks that she is. Papa says she has nothing to boast of, if her antecedents were looked into. She was quite poor, and lived in some remote Eastern city, when her good looks attracted Sir Hugh Eldridge's attention, as he was passing through the place, and he married her. But she thinks herself a perfect queen now, and lords it over everybody. I often pity her poor maid. It is 'Lawrence, here;' 'Lawrence, do this;' 'Lawrence, do that;' from morning till night; for Lady Eldridge thinks it is a disgrace to do the simplest thing for herself, or even to know how it ought to be done. She boasts of being ignorant as a baby about all money matters, and cannot even pay a bill for herself. Silly old thing!" said Evelyn, contemptuously. "I have more respect for Alicia Hay than I have for her."

"Is that the lady who sat in the arm-chair by the fire?" I asked.

"Yes, poor thing!" said Evelyn. "She wouldn't talk a bit to-night. I know why, just as well as if I had been there. It was just because Lord Moreton didn't take her down to dinner;" and Evelyn laughed at the thought of it. "Didn't you see how she looked at the door every time a step came in the passage? Because sometimes papa comes up for a few minutes on his way to the drawing-room, to cheer me up a little, and sometimes he brings one of the gentlemen with him; but they didn't come to-night, so poor Alicia was quite disconsolate; she had not the heart to talk to any one. And if she only know—oh, if she only knew—what Lord Moreton really thinks of her!"

"Poor thing!" I said. "Is she very fond of him?"

"Oh, not of him in particular," said Evelyn, laughing; "but you see poor Alicia is getting old; she really is, though she would be very angry if any one told her so, and she wants very much to be married, and to have a home of her own."

I was not sorry when Evelyn asked me to ring the bell for her maid Clemence, and I was at liberty to go to my own room, for I was very tired after all the travelling and excitement I had gone through that day.