"One may as well talk of them as think of them, I suppose!" I answered, rather flippantly. Amabel made me no answer, but withdrawing into a corner, she laid aside Mr. Thomson's poems, and, betook herself to her book of "Hours," which had been rather neglected of late. I took up my work, and we sat in silence, till called to dinner. A few days afterwards, we were walking with Mrs. Crump. We had been to carry a basket of food some pensioner of Mrs. Thorpe's, and were pacing along rather soberly, thinking of the sad scene we had just witnessed, when we heard our names called. We looked and saw Lady Throckmorton, leaning out of her carriage. She was more dressed than ever, with splendid jewels in her ears, and on her neck. Of course we stopped to curtsy, and were passing on, when she beckoned us again; the coachman at the same time drawing up to the side of the street. "So I have caught you, my doves!" said she. "I must positively take you for an airing, and carry you home to have some tea with me. Nay, I will take no refusal. This good woman will make your excuses to Mrs. Thorpe, if any are needed." Mrs. Crump was a very quiet woman, who dressed in the plainest way, and rarely said a needless word. She did not, however, seem at all dashed at the presence of the great lady, but answered her, even with dignity. "So, please you madam, I think the young ladies had better see Mrs. Thorpe themselves, before going any where else." "Woman, you forget yourself!" said Lady Throckmorton, with that angry flash of the eye, that I had observed before. "I would have your mistress know, that Lady Throckmorton's notice is an honor to any young lady. Come girls—my black haired beauty, I am sure, is not afraid of the old shopkeeper. Come, I cannot keep the horses standing." I think Amabel would have refused, but that she saw me determined to accept Lady Throckmorton's invitation, and she would not let me go by myself. So we got into the carriage and drove away, leaving Mrs. Crump standing on the pavement. "Insolent old creature!" said Lady Throckmorton. "But there, never mind her. Tell me about yourselves, and your life—where were you educated?" "In France," we told her. "Ah! That is how you come to carry yourselves so well; and what have you learned?" I gave her as good an account as I could of our acquirements. "Why! You are real paragons—I must have you with me, while I am here—I positively must, indeed—nothing takes like a new face, and your conventual simplicity is truly charming. It will never do for you to be buried at Highbeck Hall, with those old frights, each more absurd than the other. I must write to your father, Miss Amabel Leighton." This was the first time I ever heard the title of Miss, which was just then coming into fashion. "The ladies you speak of are my aunts, madame," said Amabel, with some dignity.