"You see," she would sometimes say, with her wide-open eyes and her sweet smile, "we have scraped every farthing we can get together, and joined with Miss Haredale's nice little heiress to give our girls a chance. We think Amethyst is so pretty, that it is quite a duty to make a great effort. Of course we shall have to pay for it afterwards, or perhaps we shan't--Dear me!--one _can't_ always, you know. We can no more afford, properly, to have a London season, than we can fly, but I can't sacrifice such a beauty as I think my girl is, and I've brought all her sisters to town, that they may get a little pleasure when they can. Perhaps we shall never be able to come up again. But here we are--and _so_ enjoying it. We have to do it all simply, but we don't mind that the least little bit." Simplicity is comparative, but it was quite true that Lady Haredale wasted far less regret than most women would have done, on the defects of the turn-out in which she drove in the park with her beautiful daughter. "What does it matter?" she would say. "My lord has had good horses more than once, and every one knows that he has always had to sell them." She did not mind wearing her dresses several times over; she knew that they always suited her. She appeared to be the least scheming of mothers, would throw over an invitation, for which many women would have plotted in vain, for another that seemed to her more amusing. She let Amethyst dance and talk with whom she would, cared little apparently where the young beauty was seen, or where she was not seen; and when Miss Haredale would have anxiously guarded Amethyst's footsteps, chosen her acquaintances, and guided her smallest actions, as she would have said "for the best," Lady Haredale observed-- "My dear Anna, you are much more worldly than I am. Let the child alone. She is getting on well enough. Let her enjoy herself, she looks much prettier when she is happy. She is getting quite enough talked about, and written about too in the Society papers. And that is the great point, you know, in getting her started." "I should be very sorry," said Miss Haredale, "if anything came of the attentions of that Italian Prince." "What, Prince Pontresina?--Very old family. But, for my part, I've learned prudence, and I should be very well content if she chose Sir Richard Grattan. No--I _don't_ think Lord Broadstairs would do; he is nearly as badly off as we are--and a very bad character into the bargain. Amethyst wouldn't like that."