e while exposed
to Mr. George Uplift; and then the terrors of his presence at Beckley
Court came upon her, and the fact that she had not for the last ten
minutes been the serene Countess de Saldar; and she quite hated Andrew,
for vulgarity in others evoked vulgarity in her, which was the
reason why she ranked vulgarity as the chief of the deadly sins. Her
countenance for Harry and all the others save poor Andrew was soon the
placid heaven-confiding sister's again; not before Lady Jocelyn had
found cause to observe to Drummond:

'Your Countess doesn't ruffle well.'

But a lady who is at war with two or three of the facts of Providence,
and yet will have Providence for her ally, can hardly ruffle well. Do
not imagine that the Countess's love for her brother was hollow. She was
assured when she came up to the spot where he fell, that there was
no danger; he had but dislocated his shoulder, and bruised his head a
little. Hearing this, she rose out of her clamorous heart, and seized
the opportunity for a small burst of melodrama. Unhappily, Lady Jocelyn,
who gave the tone to the rest, was a Spartan in matters of this sort;
and as she would have seen those dearest to her bear the luck of the
field, she could see others. When the call for active help reached her,
you beheld a different woman.

The demonstrativeness the Countess thirsted for was afforded her by
Juley Bonner, and in a measure by her sister Caroline, who loved Evan
passionately. The latter was in riding attire, about to mount to ride
and meet them, accompanied by the Duke. Caroline had hastily tied up her
hair; a rich golden brown lump of it hung round her cheek; her limpid
eyes and anxiously-nerved brows impressed the Countess wonderfully as
she ran down the steps and bent her fine well-filled bust forward to ask
the first hurried question.

The Countess patted her shoulder. 'Safe, dear,' she said aloud, as one
who would not make much of it. And in a whisper, 'You look superb.'

I must charge it to Caroline's beauty under the ducal radiance, that a
stream of sweet feelings entering into the Countess made her forget to
tell her sister that George Uplift was by. Caroline had not been abroad,
and her skin was not olive-hued; she was a beauty, and a majestic
figure, little altered since the day when the wooden marine marched her
out of Lymport.

The Countess stepped from the carriage to go and cherish Juliana's
petulant distress; for that unhealthy little bod