apleton's, she fell to thinking that a woman is never really
vulnerable until she is bringing out her daughters. Till then the usual
shafts directed against her virtue fall harmlessly on either side, but
now they glance from the marriage buckler and strike the daughter in
full heart. In the ball-room, as in the forest, the female is most
easily assailed when guarding her young, and nowhere in the whole animal
kingdom is this fact so well exemplified as in Dublin Castle.

Lady Georgina lived in Harcourt Street, and it was on her way thither
that something like a regret rose up in Mrs. Barton that she had (she
was forced to confess it) aroused the enmity of women, and persistently.

Lady Georgina Stapleton was Lord Dungory's eldest sister. She, too,
hated Mrs. Barton; but, being poor (Milord used to call himself the
milch-cow), she found herself, like the Ladies Cullen, occasionally
obliged to smile upon and extend a welcoming hand to the family enemy;
and when Mrs. Barton came to Dublin for the Castle Season, a little
pressure was put upon Lady Georgina to obtain invitations from the
Chamberlain; the ladies exchanged visits, and there the matter ended, as
Mrs. Barton and her daughter passed through Stephen's Green, and she
remembered that she had never taken the trouble to conceal her dislike
of the house in Harcourt Street, and some of the hard things she had
said when standing on the box-seat of a drag at Punchestown Races had
travelled back and had found a lasting resting-place in Lady Georgina's
wrathful memory.

'This is considered to be the most artistic house in Dublin,' said Mrs.
Barton, as the servant showed them upstairs.

'How lovely the camellias look,' said Olive.

'And now, Alice, mind, none of your Liberalism in this house, or you
will ruin your sister's chances.'

Lady Georgina wore a wig, or her hair was arranged so as to look like
one. Fifty years had rubbed away much of her youthful ugliness; and, in
the delicate twilight of her rooms, her aristocratic bearing might be
mistaken for good looks.

Lady Georgina was a celebrated needlewoman, and she was now begging Lord
Kilcarney to assist her at a charity bazaar. Few people had yet arrived;
and when Harding was announced, Mrs. Barton whispered:

'Here's your friend, Alice; don't miss your chance.'

Then every moment bevies of girls came in and were accommodated with
seats, and if possible with young men. Teacups were sent down to be
washed, and