'
'Dear Caroline!' said he, seating himself at her side.
'I cannot help thinking,' she continued, 'that you have not sufficiently
exerted yourself about these embarrassments. You are, of course, too
harassed, too much annoyed, too little accustomed to the energy and the
detail of business, to interfere with any effect; but surely a friend
might. You will not speak to my father, and perhaps you have your
reasons; but is there no one else? St. Maurice, I know, has no head. Ah!
George, I often feel that if your relations had been different people,
your fate might have been different. We are the fault.'
He kissed her hand.
'Among all your intimates,' she continued, 'is there no one fit to be
your counsellor, no one worthy of your confidence?'
'None,' said the Duke, bitterly, 'none, none. I have no friend among
those intimates: there is not a man of them who cares to serve or is
capable of serving me.'
'You have well considered?' asked Lady Caroline.
'Well, dear, well. I know them all by rote, head and heart. Ah! my dear,
dear Carry, if you were a man, what a nice little friend you would be!'
'You will always laugh, George.
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