'When I was
your age I used to think all old people odious. It never occurred to me
that I should live to be one of them.'
'Then you had no dear grandmother whom you loved,' said Lesbia, 'or you
would have liked old people for her sake.'
'No, my love, I had no grandparents. I had a father, and he was
all-sufficient--anything beyond him in the ancestral line would have
been a burden laid upon me greater than I could bear, as the poet says.'
Dinner was announced, and Mary came shyly out of her corner, blushing
deeply.
'And this is Lady Mary, I suppose?' said Lady Kirkbank, in an off-hand
way, 'How do you do, my dear? I am going to steal your sister.'
'I am very glad,' faltered Mary. 'I mean I am glad that Lesbia should
enjoy herself.'
'And some fine day, when Lesbia is married and a great lady, I shall ask
you to come to Scotland,' said Lady Kirkbank, condescendingly, and than
she murmured in her friend's ear, as they went to the dining-room,
'Quite an English girl. Very fresh and frank and nice,' which was great
praise for such a second-rate young person as Lady Mary.
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