London (England) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
She wondered whether her grandmother had told him that if her flight were
not prevented she would forfeit money. Then, vividly, it came over her
that this would be what he was occupied with. “I shall never think of
you—let me go!” she cried, with passion.
Captain Jay opened the door, but Rose didn’t see his face, and in a
moment she was out of the house. Aunt Julia, who was sure to have been
hovering, had taken flight before the profanity of the knock.
“Heavens, dear, where did you get your mourning?” the lady in the
victoria asked of her daughter as they drove away.
II.
LADY MARESFIELD had given her boy a push in his plump back and had said
to him, “Go and speak to her now; it’s your chance.” She had for a long
time wanted this scion to make himself audible to Rose Tramore, but the
opportunity was not easy to come by. The case was complicated. Lady
Maresfield had four daughters, of whom only one was married. It so
happened moreover that this one, Mrs. Vaughan-Vesey, the only person in
the world her mother was afraid of, was the most to be reckoned with.
The Honourable Guy was in appearance all his mother’s child, though he
was really a simpler soul. He was large and pink; large, that is, as to
everything but the eyes, which were diminishing points, and pink as to
everything but the hair, which was comparable, faintly, to the hue of the
richer rose. He had also, it must be conceded, very small neat teeth,
which made his smile look like a young lady’s. He had no wish to
resemble any such person, but he was perpetually smiling, and he smiled
more than ever as he approached Rose Tramore, who, looking altogether, to
his mind, as a pretty girl should, and wearing a soft white opera-cloak
over a softer black dress, leaned alone against the wall of the vestibule
at Covent Garden while, a few paces off, an old gentleman engaged her
mother in conversation. Madame Patti had been singing, and they were all
waiting for their carriages. To their ears at present came a
vociferation of names and a rattle of wheels. The air, through banging
doors, entered in damp, warm gusts, heavy with the stale, slightly sweet
taste of the London season when the London season is overripe and
spoiling.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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