"Ha!" said my husband, lowering his voice, "I protest it is she! I did not know she was in England. Who are those men with her?" "What, are you jealous?" "Nonsense! Who are they?" "The man in brown is husband to the lady in blue; and for the sake of associating with a titled lady, which your friend is, you know, he allows his wife, who is not pretty enough to be in danger, to go about with her and her _cher ami_--the young man in green. You know she was always a favourite with young men." "True, and young indeed must the man be who is taken in by her fascinations." "But she is wonderfully handsome still." "I hardly looked at her." "We are passing her again--_Now_, then, look at her if you dare." "Dare!" "Yes: for her eyes are very like the basilisk's." "I will risk it." _I_ too now looked towards the box we were approaching; at the end of which stood a young man in green, hanging over a woman, who though no longer young, and wholly indebted to art for her bloom, appeared to my now jealous eyes the handsomest woman I had ever beheld. I also observed that she saw and recognised my husband; for she suddenly started, and looked disordered, while an expression of anger stole over her face. A sudden stop in the crowd, to allow the PRINCE and his party to pass, who were just entering, forced us to be stationary a few minutes before her box. Oh! how my heart beat during this survey! But one thing gratified me: I was sure as I did not see her bow her head or curtsy, that Pendarves did not notice her. And yet, Lord Charles had, uncontradicted, called her his old friend! Who, then, and what was she? would he tell me? Perhaps he would when he got home; if he did not, I felt that I should be uneasy. We soon moved on again, and I heard Lord Charles say, "Cruel Pendarves, not even to look at or touch your hat to her! Surely that would not have committed you in any way." "It would have been acknowledging her for an acquaintance, which I do not now wish to do, especially in my wife's presence," I conclude he said, for he spoke too low for me to hear; but I judge so from the answer of Lord Charles. "Oh! then, if your wife was not present, you would not be so cruel?" "I did not say so." "No: but you implied it." "I deny that also." Then coming up to me, my husband again offered me his arm, and Lord Charles left us. I soon after saw this beautiful woman walking in the circle, and heard her named by the gentleman next me as Lady Bell Singleton--a dashing widow more famed for her beauty and her fascinations than her morals. But Pendarves said nothing; and though she looked very earnestly at him, and examined me from head to foot as I passed, I saw that he never turned his eyes on her, and seemed resolved not to see her.