'Lord St. Maurice is about to
lead to the hymeneal altar----'
'Lady Sophy Wrekin; I know it.'
'How extremely diplomatic! The _attache_ in your very air. I thought,
of course, I was to surprise you; but future ambassadors have such
extraordinary sources of information.'
'Mine is a simple one. The Duchess, imagining, I suppose, that my
attentions were directed to the wrong lady, warned me some weeks past.
However, my congratulations shall be duly paid. Lady Caroline St.
Maurice, allow me to express----'
'All that you ought to feel,' said Miss Dacre. 'But men at the present
day pride themselves on insensibility.'
'Do you think I am insensible, Lady Caroline?' asked Arundel.
'I must protest against unfair questions,' said her Ladyship.
'But it is not unfair. You are a person who have now seen me more than
once, and therefore, according to May, you ought to have a perfect
knowledge of my character. Moreover, you do not share the prejudices of
my family. I ask you, then, do you think I am so heartless as May would
insinuate?'
'Does she insinuate so much?'
'Does she not call me insensible, because I am not in raptures that your
brother is about to marry a young lady, who, for aught she knows, may be
the object of my secret adoration?'
'Arundel, you are perverse,' said Miss Dacre.
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