Lady Lesbia's gowns and parasols had been admired, her engagement had
furnished an infinity of gossip, and the fact of Montesma's constant
attendance upon her had given zest to the situation, just that flavour
of peril and fatality which the soul of society loveth.
'Is she going to marry them both?' asked an ancient dowager of the
ever-young type.
'No, dear Lady Sevenoaks, she can only marry one, don't you know; but
the other is nice to go about with; and I believe it is the other she
really likes.'
'It is always the other that a woman likes,' answered the dowager; 'I am
madly in love with this Peruvian--no, I think you said Cuban--myself. I
wish some good-natured creature would present him to me. If you know
anybody who knows him, tell them to bring him to my next
afternoon--Saturday. But why does--_chose_--_machin_--Smithson allow
such a handsome hanger-on? After marriage I could understand that he
might not be able to help himself; but before marriage a man generally
has some kind of authority.'
The world wondered a little, just as Lady Sevenoaks wondered, at
Smithson's complacency in allowing a man so attractive as Montesma to be
so much in the society of his future wife, yet even the censorious could
but admit that the Cuban's manner offered no ground for offence.
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