"Well then, some day go and try; find yourself frozen in rooms where the fire is lit only five minutes before the hour of your expected arrival--starve at the hands of the very worst cook in England,--and then, when you hear that my Lady spends twelve guineas on a new bonnet, squanders thousands on her journies to Paris, and ruins Boileau in articles for her toilette, _marvel_--but the thing is so." "Is it possible?" Lord Albert continued saying to himself; as the person who had been talking to him turned away, half in derision of his unsophisticated expressions and manner of receiving what he said,--"is it possible that so much refinement of duplicity can exist, for an end so trivial--where the gratification of the spirit of falsehood, or the indulgence of an ill-bred impertinence, is the only object?" Whilst thus musing, and preparing to leave a scene which, as he became more acquainted with the actors, appeared little suited to his tastes or modes of thinking, he saw Lady Hamlet Vernon approach the door unattended. A recollection that she alone, in the manner she spoke of Lady Adeline Seymour, had seemed to have any sentiment in common with himself, made him move towards her, and inquire if he could be of any service in seeing her to her carriage. "I do not know if it is up," was her reply, "but perhaps you will have the goodness to ask." He did so, and in the interval, before it was announced, they continued conversing. "_Je vous félicite_," said Lord Rainham, addressing Lady Hamlet Vernon in a low tone as he passed, and looking significantly at the same time at Lord Albert D'Esterre. "There is no cause," she replied, "I am waiting for my carriage, and I think it will never come." "_Discrète_," answered Lord Rainham, as he moved towards the door, and signalled what he had observed to Leslie Winyard, whose answering nod expressed concurrence in his suspicions. It was long before Lady Hamlet Vernon's carriage arrived, and she continued talking with Lord Albert on various topics; the societies of Paris and Vienna, compared with that of London; the state of the Opera, and the prevalent bad taste of music on the Continent. She inquired for many who in their exile in this country had been known to her, and with whom, in the splendour of restored rank and fortunes, she found Lord Albert had lived on terms of close intimacy. In speaking of them he seemed to dwell with pleasure on their recollection of the services rendered them in England, as a bright trait in the human character, which betokened feelings that it was plain to see were in accordance with his own generous and noble nature--and which had formed the basis of that familiar intercourse in which he had lived with them. Although the reverse of this picture has been ascribed to too many foreigners, who have with justice been accused of ingratitude, it ought not therefore to be recorded that all were subject to such condemnation. Lord Albert knew otherwise.