That story may serve as a symbolic epitome of William Lamb's married life. We shall come to many stories of the same kind as we proceed. Lady Caroline was a creature of impulse, and there was nearly always a man in the case. She easily persuaded herself that any man who was polite to her was in love with her--both Moore and Rogers were among the victims of whom she boasted--and she would not allow the contrary to be suggested. Moreover, besides being self-willed in matters of the heart, she liked to _afficher_ herself with every man for whom she felt a preference, and to declare the state of her affections to the world with the insistent emphasis with which the sensational virtues of soaps and sauces are set forth on the hoardings. Whether she deliberately sought notoriety, or merely did what she chose to do without fear of it, remains, to this hour, an open question. All that is certain is that she did, in fact, make herself very notorious indeed, and that there was more scandal than subtlety in her attempts to monopolise Byron, to whose heart she laid siege, with all the audacity of a stage adventuress, in the presence of a large, amused, and interested audience. It was Lady Westmorland who introduced them. She did not introduce Byron to Lady Caroline, but Lady Caroline to Byron. Already, only a few days after the appearance of "Childe Harold," he was on his pedestal, and was not expected to descend from it, even to show deference to ladies. "He has a club-foot and bites his nails," Rogers had told her. "If he is as ugly as Æsop I must know him," she had answered. But now that she was brought to him, she shrank from him, whether because she was afraid, or because she wished to provoke and pique him. "I looked earnestly at him," she told Lady Morgan, "and turned on my heel"; and she went home and wrote in her diary the impression that Byron was "mad, bad, and dangerous to know." That was the first scene in the comedy. The second took place at Holland House, and the third at Melbourne House. Lady Caroline's recollections of them were recorded in Lady Morgan's reminiscences: "I was sitting with Lord and Lady Holland when he was announced. Lady Holland said, 'I must present Lord Byron to you.' Lord Byron said, 'That offer was made to you before; may I ask why you rejected it?' He begged permission to come and see me. He did so the next day. Rogers and Moore were standing by me: I had just come in from riding. I was filthy and heated. When Lord Byron was announced, I flew out of the room to wash myself. When I returned, Rogers said, 'Lord Byron, you are a happy man. Lady Caroline has been sitting here in all her dirt with us, but when you were announced, she flew to beautify herself.' Lord Byron wished to come and see me at eight o'clock, when I was alone. I said he might."