"No, go, child, and enjoy yourself," the duchess answered kindly. "And I hope Lady Coke may put some sense into that feather brain of yours. My dear," she continued, embracing Sophia, "you'll take care of her?"
"I will, I will indeed!" Sophia cried, clinging to her. "And thank you a thousand times, ma'am, for your kindness to me."
"Pooh, pooh, 'tis nothing," her Grace said. "But all the same," she added, her anxiety returning, "I wish Sir Hervey were with you, or you had not those jewels."
"Coke should have thought of it," the duke answered. "But there, kiss Bet, my love, and tell her to be a good puss. The sooner they are gone, the sooner they will be there."
"You have your cordial, Betty?" the duchess asked anxiously.
"Yes, ma'am."
"And the saffron drops, and your 'Holy Living'? Pettitt," to the woman; "you'll see her Ladyship uses the face wash every morning, and wears her warm night-rail. And see that the flowered chintz is aired before she puts it on."
"Yes, sure, your Grace."
"And I hope you'll come back safe, and won't be robbed!"
"Pooh, pooh!" the duke said. "Since Cook was hanged last year--and he was ten times out of eleven at Mimms and Finchley--there has been nothing done on the Lewes Road. And they are too strong to be stopped by one man. You have been reading Johnson's Lives, and are frightening yourself for nothing, my dear. There, let them go, and they'll be in Lewes two hours before nightfall. A good journey, my lady, and my service to Sir Hervey."