“Mildred Calverley is decidedly in the way. Pm very sorry I invited her.”
“Perhaps it was a mistake. However, she can't be got rid of now.”
“And Pm not sure Emmeline would have come without her.”
A slight pause ensued, after which Lady Thicknesse said:--“By-the-by, your brother Charles is coming to town. I've just got a letter from him. I think I shall ask him to stay with me for a week. Is he really going to marry Mrs. Calverley? He says nothing about her.”
“I believe the match is broken off. She wants to keep all her property to herself. Had she behaved generously, as she ought to have done, and settled a handsome sum on Charley, it would have been a famous thing for him, no doubt. But it never does to be dependent upon an imperious woman like Mrs. Calverley. So he is quite right, in my opinion, to beat a retreat while there is yet time.”
Lady Thicknesse seemed to take a different view of the matter.
“Pm sorry he has thrown away such a chance,” she remarked. “Has she a large income?”
“Four or five thousand a year, Charley tells me. Old Calverley was very rich, as you must be aware, and she has got all his money.”
“Not all, surely? Chetwynd and Mildred must have some of it.”
“Both are dependent upon her. Chetwynd has had a very bitter quarrel with her, and has only just made it up. I think he acted very wisely, since he is completely in her power.”
“What a singular position she is placed in!”
“Old Calverley must have been in his dotage to give it her.”
“Not many years older than Mildred, and quite as good-looking. I saw her at Sir Leycester's funeral, and was charmed with her. No doubt, she is very fascinating.”
“You excite my curiosity. I should like to see her.”
“I dare say you will have the opportunity. But you won't see her as Mrs. Charles Danvers.”
“Why not? They may still come to an understanding.”
“Well, if you can bring them together again, and prevail upon her to make a handsome settlement on Charley, you will do a great thing,” remarked Scrope, with a laugh.
“I will consider what can be done,” replied Lady Thicknesse. “Meantime, I will write and ask Charles to come and stay with me.”
|Rose Hartley made a charming lady's maid.
She was so pretty, dressed so neatly, had such nice manners, and was so cheerful, good-natured, and obliging, that the two young ladies were enchanted with her.