did
as he was desired, and sent a cheque,--a cheque for L20; and added
a message that he hoped Miss Roanoke would buy with it any little
thing that she liked. Miss Roanoke,--or her aunt for her,--liked a
thirty-guinea ring, and bought it, having the bill for the balance
sent in to Mr. Cabob. Mr. Cabob, who probably knew that he must pay
well for his smiles, never said anything about it.

Lady Eustace went into all this work, absolutely liking it. She had
felt nothing of anger even as regarded her own contribution,--much as
she had struggled to reduce the amount. People, she felt, ought to be
sharp;--and it was nice to look at pretty things, and to be cunning
about them. She would have applied to the Duke of Omnium had she
dared, and was very triumphant when she got the smelling-bottle from
Lady Glencora. But Lucinda herself took no part whatever in all these
things. Nothing that Mrs. Carbuncle could say would induce her to
take any interest in them, or even in the trousseau, which, without
reference to expense, was being supplied chiefly on the very
indifferent credit of Sir Griffin. What Lucinda had to say about
the matter was said solely to her aunt. Neither Lady Eustace, nor
Lord George, nor even the maid who dressed her, heard any of her
complaints. But complain she did, and that with terrible energy.
"What is the use of it, Aunt Jane? I shall never have a house to put
them into."

"What nonsense, my dear! Why shouldn't you have a house as well as
others?"

"And if I had, I should never care for them. I hate them. What does
Lady Glencora Palliser or Lord Fawn care for me?" Even Lord Fawn
had been put under requisition, and had sent a little box full of
stationery.

"They are worth money, Lucinda; and when a girl marries she always
gets them."

"Yes;--and when they come from people who love her, and who pour them
into her lap with kisses, because she has given herself to a man she
loves, then it must be nice. Oh,--if I were marrying a poor man, and
a poor friend had given me a gridiron to help me to cook my husband's
dinner, how I could have valued it!"

"I don't know that you like poor things and poor people better than
anybody else," said Aunt Jane.

"I don't like anything or anybody," said Lucinda.

"You had better take the good things that come to you, then; and not
grumble. How I have worked to get all this arranged for you, and now
what thanks have I?"

"You'll find you have worked for very littl