I'm sure, if Lesbia plays her cards properly, he will look over
this--this--little escapade.'
Maulevrier contemplated the worldly old face with infinite scorn.
'Does she look like a girl who will play her cards in your fashion?' he
asked, pointing to his sister, whose white face upon the pillow seemed
like a mask cut out of marble. 'Upon my soul, Lady Kirkbank, I consider
my sister's elopement with this Spanish adventurer, with whom she was
over head and ears in love, a far more respectable act than her
engagement to Smithson, for whom she cared not a straw.'
'Well, I hope if you so approve of her conduct you will help her to pay
her dressmaker, and the rest of them,' retorted Lady Kirkbank. 'She has
been plunging rather deeply, I believe, under the impression that
Smithson would pay all her bills when she was married. Your grandmother
may not quite like the budget.'
'I will do all I can for her,' answered Maulevrier. 'I would do a great
deal to save her from the degradation to which your teaching has brought
her.'
Lady Kirkbank looked at him for a moment or so with reproachful eyes,
and then shrugged her shoulders contemptuously.
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