“She did no such thing; she took the pathetic line, put her handkerchief to her eyes, and implied how she would love it, as a refuge from the cruel treatment of a bad husband,--eh, am I right?” Harsh and insolent as the words were, the accents in which they were uttered were far more so. “Out with it, Madam! was it not something like that you said?” “No,” said she, gently. “I told Sir William I was supremely happy, blessed in every accident and every relation of my life, and that hitherto I had never seen the spot which could not suit the glad temper of my heart.” “You keep the glad temper confoundedly to yourself then,” burst he out. “I wish you were not such a niggard of it.” “Dudley, Dudley, I say,” cried Lady Lendrick, in a tone of reproof. “I have learned not to mind these amenities,” said Mrs. Sewell, in a quiet voice, “and I am only surprised that Colonel Sewell thinks it worth while to continue them.” “If it be your intention to become Sir William's guest, I must say such habits will require to be amended,” said her Ladyship, gravely. “So they shall, mother. Your accomplished and amiable husband, as you once called him in a letter to me, shall only see us in our turtle moods, and never be suffered to approach our cage save when we are billing and cooing.” The look of aversion he threw at his wife as he spoke was something that words cannot convey; and though she never raised eyes to meet it, a sickly pallor crept over her cheek as the blight fell on her. “I am to call on him to-morrow, by appointment. I wish he had not said twelve. One has not had his coffee by twelve; but as he said, 'I hope that will not be too early for you,' I felt it better policy to reply, 'By no means;' and so I must start as if for a journey.” “What does he mean by asking you to come at that hour? Have you any notion what his business is?” “Not the least. We were in the hall. I was putting on my coat, when he suddenly turned round and asked me if I could without inconvenience drop in about twelve.” “I wonder what it can be for.” “I'll tell you what I hope it may not be for! I hope it may not be to show me his conservatory, or his Horatian garden, as he pedantically called it, or his fish-ponds. If so, I think I 'll invite him some fine morning to turn over all my protested bills, and the various writs issued against me. Bore for Bore, I suspect we shall come out of the encounter pretty equal.” “He has some rare gems. I'd not wonder if it was to get you to select a present for Lucy.” “If I thought so, I'd take a jeweller with me, as though my friend, to give me a hint as to the value.” “He admires you greatly, Lucy; he told me so as he took me downstairs.” “She has immense success with men of that age: nothing over eighty seems able to resist her.”