"Now,
my man, what do you want here?" Lord Abercrombie mildly mentioned who
he was, and that he had come to dinner. And the poor host was much
afflicted, saying afterward: "Why didn't he wear his stars and garters?
then a fellow would know he was a lord."'

The girls laughed again, and a general rustle betrayed that each was
prinking a bit before the titled guest arrived. Even Mrs Jo settled her
collar, and Mrs Meg felt if her cap was right, while Bess shook out
her curls and Josie boldly consulted the glass; for they were women, in
spite of philosophy and philanthropy.

'Shall we all rise?' asked one girl, deeply impressed by the impending
honour.

'It would be courteous.'

'Shall we shake hands?'

'No, I'll present you en masse, and your pleasant faces will be
introduction enough.'

'I wish I'd worn my best dress. Ought to have told us,' whispered Sally.

'Won't my folks be surprised when I tell them we have had a real lady to
call on us?' said another.

'Don't look as if you'd never seen a gentlewoman before, Milly. We are
not all fresh from the wilderness,' added the stately damsel who, having
Mayflower ancestors, felt that she was the equal of all the crowned
heads of Europe.

'Hush, she's coming! Oh, my heart, what a bonnet!' cried the gay girl in
a stage whisper; and every eye was demurely fixed upon the busy hands as
the door opened to admit Mrs Laurence and her guest.

It was rather a shock to find, after the general introduction was over,
that this daughter of a hundred earls was a stout lady in a plain gown,
and a rather weather-beaten bonnet, with a bag of papers in one hand
and a note-book in the other. But the face was full of benevolence, the
sonorous voice very kind, the genial manners very winning, and about the
whole person an indescribable air of high breeding which made beauty of
no consequence, costume soon forgotten, and the moment memorable to the
keen-eyed girls whom nothing escaped.

A little chat about the rise, growth, and success of this particular
class, and then Mrs Jo led the conversation to the English lady's
work, anxious to show her pupils how rank dignifies labour, and charity
blesses wealth.

It was good for these girls to hear of the evening-schools supported and
taught by women whom they knew and honoured; of Miss Cobbe's eloquent
protest winning the protection of the law for abused wives; Mrs Butler
saving the lost; Mrs Taylor, who devoted one room in her historic h