"Yes, and you said then, _if you_ remember, that _you_ would not go, for that you thought of visiting Tunbridge, as you always conceived Restormel to be a dull, damp place, and so unwholesome, with its quantity of trees and stagnant water." "Ay--so I did,--hem! very true, and so it is, and now you put me in mind, I rather suppose _we_, that is _I_, shall not go, for of course _your_ ladyship will do as you chuse." Lady Boileau, though young in years, was too old a bird of fashion to be caught with chaff, she saw through this matrimonial manœuvre, but was too prudent to let her perception be seen; and in regard to Lady Baskerville's refusal on the subject of Restormel, she pretended to take it as the latter intended it should be taken, and her outward appearance remained unruffled, but at the same time it was marked in the tablets of her memory, as a token of friendship _not to be forgotten_. "Indeed," replied Lady Boileau, in answer to Lord Baskerville's last remark, "you are both quite right, Restormel _is_ a _dull_ place, and I advise you to secure a party for Tunbridge, in which I shall be most happy to join you." "I will think about it, hem!" replied Lord Baskerville, "and consult the Comtesse Leinsengen," and thus he bowed out of the box. Shortly after, Lady Baskerville feigned a very bad head-ache and retired before the end of the ballet. Not so Lady Boileau; she watched Lady Ellersby's movements, and contrived to meet her in the room just at the very moment when the crowd prevented her escaping. "What do you think I have been doing all night?" Lady Boileau asked? "Not listening to the Opera," replied Mr. Spencer Newcomb, who was handing Lady Ellersby. "As if any body ever really came to attend to or listen to it!" she observed; "it is the very last thing one comes to the Opera for," yawning. "I have been much better employed," rejoined Lady Boileau, "for I have been defending the _agrémens_ of Restormel against Lord and Lady Baskerville's assertion of its being the dullest place in the world; they both declared it always gave them the vapours." "So it does me," replied Lady Ellersby, again yawning, "and that is precisely the reason why I take such special care never to go there, without having it well filled. But then all places in the country are alike, and one _must_ go out of town at Easter." "Well, Lady Ellersby, that may be true enough: all country places are insufferably dull except it be to give a fête during the lilac and laburnum season; but I think your friends might make some distinction between _you_ and your _place_, and as far as I could observe there was none made by the Baskervilles." "Oh was there _not_, he, he! Oh if such _is_ the case I am sorry I asked them to-night." "To-night! did you not make Lady Baskerville the invitation long before to-night? you will pardon my asking the question; I have a particular reason, which I will explain to you hereafter, for doing so."