nfound Lady Crumbleford!" said Mr Berners indignant but a little
relieved.

"No, no; Lady Crumbleford told Lady Alicia Severn."

"Yes, yes," said Berners, a little pale, for he was touched.

"But I cannot stop," said Lady Firebrace. "I must be with Lady St
Julians exactly at a quarter past four;" and she sprang into her
carriage.

"I would sooner meet any woman in London than Lady Firebrace," said Mr
Berners; "she makes me uneasy for the day: she contrives to convince
me that the whole world are employed behind my back in abusing or
ridiculing me."

"It is her way," said Egerton; "she proves her zeal by showing you that
you are odious. It is very successful with people of weak nerves. Scared
at their general unpopularity, they seek refuge with the very person
who at the same time assures them of their odium and alone believes it
unjust. She rules that poor old goose, Lady Gramshawe, who feels that
Lady Firebrace makes her life miserable, but is convinced that if she
break with the torturer, she loses her only friend."

"There goes a man who is as much altered as any fellow of our time."

"Not in his looks; I was thinking the other night that he was
better-looking than ever."

"Oh! no; not in his looks; but in his life. I was at Christchurch with
him, and we entered the world about the same time. I was rather before
him. He did everything; and did it well. And now one never sees him,
except at the House. He goes nowhere; and they tell me he is a regular
reading man."

"Do you think he looks to office?"

"He does not put himself forward."

"He attends; and his brother will always be able to get anything for
him," said Egerton.

"Oh! he and Marney never speak; they hate each other."

"By Jove! However there is his mother; with this marriage of hers and
Deloraine House, she will be their grandest dame."

"She is the only good woman the tories have: I think their others do
them harm, from Lady St Julians down to your friend Lady Firebrace.
I wish Lady Deloraine were with us. She keeps their men together
wonderfully; makes her house agreeable; and then her manner--it
certainly is perfect; natural, and yet refined."

"Lady Mina Blake has an idea that far from looking to office, Egremont's
heart is faintly with his party; and that if it were not for the
Marchioness--"

"We might gain him, eh?"

"Hem; I hardly know that: he has got crotchets about the people I am
told."

"What, the ballot and household s