It was a question whether she should
not be asked to be Mistress of the Robes, though those who asked
it knew very well that she was the last woman in England to hamper
herself by dependence on the Court. Up to London they came; and,
though of course they went into no society, the house in Carlton
Gardens was continually thronged with people who had some special
reason for breaking the ordinary rules of etiquette in their desire
to see how Lady Glencora carried herself as Duchess of Omnium. "Do
you think she's altered much?" said Aspasia Fitzgibbon, an elderly
spinster, the daughter of Lord Claddagh, and sister of Laurence
Fitzgibbon, member for one of the western Irish counties. "I don't
think she was quite so loud as she used to be."
Mrs. Bonteen was of opinion that there was a change. "She was always
uncertain, you know, and would scratch like a cat if you offended
her."
"And won't she scratch now?" asked Miss Fitzgibbon.
"I'm afraid she'll scratch oftener. It was always a trick of hers to
pretend to think nothing of rank;--but she values her place as highly
as any woman in England.
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