"But," put in Mrs. Burnham rather eagerly, "it appears that Mr. Burmistone is not such an obscure person, after all. He is an Oxford man, and came off with honors: he is quite a well-born man, and gives this entertainment in honor of his friend and relation, Lord Lansdowne." "Lord Lansdowne!" echoed her ladyship, sternly. "Son of the Marquis of Lauderdale, whose wife was Lady Honora Erroll." "Did Mr. Burmistone give you this information?" asked Lady Theobald with ironic calmness. Mrs. Burnham colored never so faintly. "I--that is to say--there is a sort of acquaintance between one of my maids and the butler at the Burmistone place; and, when the girl was doing Lydia's hair, she told her the story. Lord Lansdowne and his father are quite fond of Mr. Burmistone, it is said." "It seems rather singular to my mind that we should not have known of this before." "But how should we learn? We none of us know Lord Lansdowne, or even the marquis. I think he is only a second or third cousin. We are a little--just a little _set_ in Slowbridge, you know, my dear: at least, I have thought so sometimes lately." "I must confess," remarked my lady, "that _I_ have not regarded the matter in that light." "That is because you have a better right to--to be a little set than the rest of us," was the amiable response. Lady Theobald did not disclaim the privilege. She felt the sentiment an extremely correct one. But she was not very warm in her manner during the remainder of the call; and, incongruous as such a statement may appear, it must be confessed that she felt that Miss Octavia Bassett must have something to do with these defections on all sides, and that garden-parties, and all such swervings from established Slowbridge custom, were the natural result of Nevada frivolity and freedom of manners. It may be that she felt remotely that even Lord Lansdowne and the Marquis of Lauderdale were to be referred to the same reprehensible cause, and that, but for Octavia Bassett, Mr. Burmistone would not have been educated at Oxford and have come off with honors, and have turned out to be related to respectable people, but would have remained in appropriate obscurity. "I suppose," she said afterward to Lucia, "that your friend Miss Octavia Bassett is in Mr. Burmistone's confidence, if no one else has been permitted to have that honor. I have no doubt _she_ has known of this approaching entertainment for some weeks." "I do not know, grandmamma," replied Lucia, putting her letters together, and gaining color as she bent over them. She was wondering, with inward trepidation, what her ladyship would say if she knew the whole truth,--if she knew that it was her granddaughter, and not Octavia Bassett, who enjoyed Mr. Burmistone's confidence. "Ah!" she thought, "how could I ever dare to tell her?"