with whom I am
acquainted. Yours is, I believe, an old Norman family; and as I am a
bit of an antiquary" (O Frank, Frank!), "I consulted my friend Sir J.
Burke on the subject, who assures me that the 'Le Montants'--Godfrey
le Montant, if you remember, distinguished himself highly in the
second crusade--that the Le Montants claimed direct descent from the
old Dukes of Brittany, and consequently from the very lady of whom we
are speaking. Roger le Montant came over with the Conqueror, and
although strangely omitted from the Roll of Battle Abbey, doubtless
received large grants of land in Hampshire from William; and two
generations later we can trace his descendant, Hugo, in the same
locality, under the Anglicized name of Horsengem, now corrupted to
Horsingham, of which illustrious family you are, of course, aware
yours is a younger branch. It is curious that the distinguishing mark
of the race should have been preserved in all its shapely beauty,"
added Frank, with the gravest face possible, and glancing at the
lavender kids, "through so many changes and so many successive
generations."

Aunt Deborah was delighted. "Such a clever young man, my dear!" she
said to me afterwards. "Such manners! such a voice! _quite_ one of the
old school--evidently well-bred, and with that respect for good blood
which in these days, I regret to say, is fast becoming obsolete. Kate,
I like him vastly!"

In the meantime she entered freely into conversation with our visitor;
and before he went away--by which time his hat looked as if it had
been ironed--"she hoped he would call again; she was always at home
till two o'clock, and trusted to have the pleasure of his company at
dinner as soon as she was well enough to get anybody to meet him."

So Frank went off to ride in the Park on the neatest possible brown
hack; for I saw him quite plainly trot round the corner as I went into
the balcony to water my poor geraniums.

Well, I waited and waited, and John never came for me, as was his
usual habit; and I began to think I must lose my ride, for I am not
allowed to go by myself in the afternoons; and at last I was obliged
to coax Aunt Deborah to take me out in the open carriage, for it was a
beautiful day, and it would be just the thing for her cold. So we went
dowagering about, and shopped in Bond Street, and looked at some lace
in Regent Street, and left cards for Lady Horsingham, as in duty
bound, after helping her to "make a good ball;" and