Lucy felt a little like M. Jourdain, when he discovered that he had been speaking prose all his life; and was rather elated at finding she was so clever. She had heard she was pretty, and had perceived she was attractive, and had sometimes felt that she amused, but she had never before been told she was clever. Lord Thorcaster was a man who stood high with a certain set; his suffrage was decidedly worth having, for he was reckoned very fastidious; and Lucy was much exalted in her own estimation by his opinion of her talents. She now listened with attention to political discussions; fancied she greatly preferred such subjects to the frivolous conversation of women; she occasionally retailed the arguments she heard adduced by others, and sometimes hazarded an opinion of her own. Lord Thorcaster was charmed; but as he was neither young nor handsome, the degree in which he frequented St. James’s Square gave no umbrage to Lord Montreville, nor ground for scandal to the world. CHAPTER XIV. J’ai vu une jolie femme dont la conversation passoit pour un enchantement, personne au monde ne s’exprimoit comme elle, c’étoit la vivacité, c’étoit la finesse même qui parlait: les connoisseurs n’y pouvaient tenir de plaisir. La petite vérole lui vint, elle en resta extrèmement marquée, quand la pauvre femme reparut, ce n’étoit plus qu’une babillarde incommode.—MARIVAUX. Although no consequences attended Lord Thorcaster’s admiration of Lady Montreville, as far as he himself was concerned, it had a visible effect upon her manners. People are always more vulnerable to flattery with regard to the merit for which they are least remarkable, than that on which they themselves are not in doubt. Lord Thorcaster’s compliments upon the strength of her understanding caused her to set up for a superior woman, _une tête forte_; and she sometimes astonished those who knew her best, by having a decided opinion upon some subject of which women are seldom supposed competent judges. These little fits of pretension, if they did not add to her attractions, tended very much to increase the number of persons attracted. It was evident there must be vanity, when a new character was assumed for the purpose of shining; and this conviction gave courage and audacity to the herd of aspirers to her favour, who had hitherto been kept at bay by the candour and openness of her manner. The back of Lady Montreville’s opera box was always thronged with men. The door was constantly opened, and quickly shut again, by persons who could not find standing-room; and woe to the neighbours on each side, if by any chance they loved music, and wished to listen to the sweet sounds they had paid their money to hear.