They wondered, too, whether Lady Lesbia Haselden meant to marry him.
'Of course she does, my dear,' answered Mrs. Mostyn, decisively.
'You don't suppose that after having studied the habits of _gnats_ I
cannot read such a poor shallow creature as a silly vain girl. Of course
Lady Lesbia means to marry Mr. Smithson's fine houses; and she is only
amusing herself and swelling her own importance by letting him dangle in
a kind of suspense which is not suspense; for he knows as well as she
does that she means to have him.'
The next day was given up, first to seeing the house, an amusement which
lasted very well for an hour or so after breakfast, and then to
wandering in a desultory manner, to rowing and canoeing, and a little
sailing, and a good deal of screaming and pretty timidity upon the blue
bright river; to gathering wild flowers and ferns in rustic lanes, and
to an _al fresco_ luncheon in the wood at Medmenham, and then dinner,
and then music, an evening spent half within and half without the
music-room, cigarettes sparkling, like glowworms on the terrace, tall
talk from Mr.
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