Lord Fitz-pompey was rather in a flutter. George did not ride so often
with Caroline, and never alone with her. This was disagreeable; but the
Earl was a man of the world, and a sanguine man withal. These things
will happen. It is of no use to quarrel with the wind; and, for
his part, he was not sorry that he had the honour of the Grafton
acquaintance; it secured Caroline her cousin's company; and as for
the _liaison_, if there were one, why it must end, and probably the
difficulty of terminating it might even hasten the catastrophe which he
had so much at heart. 'So, Laura, dearest! let the Graftons be asked to
dinner.'
In one of those rides to which Caroline was not admitted, for Lady
Aphrodite was present, the Duke of St. James took his way to the
Regent's Park, a wild sequestered spot, whither he invariably repaired
when he did not wish to be noticed; for the inhabitants of this pretty
suburb are a distinct race, and although their eyes are not unobserving,
from their inability to speak the language of London they are unable to
communicate their observations.
The spring sun was setting, and flung a crimson flush over the blue
waters and the white houses.
Pages:
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59