y which so much depended on tint and colour, that her
days of indisposition left her almost bereft of good looks. All about
her, her low, soft voice, her heavily raised eyelids, her fair and
blue-veined hands, the very carriage of her head, pensively thrown
forwards, were so many protestations of one who asked for sympathy and
compassion; and who, whether with reason or without, firmly believed
herself the most unhappy creature in existence.

If there was no great similarity of disposition to unite them, there was
a bond fully as strong. They were both English of the same order, both
born and bred up in a ritual that dictates its own notions of good or
bad, of right and wrong, of well-bred and vulgar, of riches and poverty.
Given any person in society, or any one event of their lives, and these
two ladies' opinion upon either would have been certain to harmonise
and agree. The world for them had but one aspect; for the simple reason,
that they had always seen it from the one same point of view. They had
not often met; they had seen very little of each other for years; but
the freemasonry of class supplied all the place of affection, and they
were as fond and as confiding as though they were sisters.

"I must say," said the Viscountess, in a tone full of reprobation, "that
is shocking--actually shameful; and, in _your_ place, I'd not endure
it!"

"I have become so habituated to sorrow," sighed Lady Grace

"That you will sink under it at last, my dear, if this man's cruelties
be not put an end to. You really must allow me to speak to Lackington."

"It wouldn't be of the slightest service, I assure you. In the first
place, he is so plausible, he'd persuade any one that there was nothing
to complain of, that he lived up to his fortune, that his means were
actually crippled; and secondly, he'd give such pledges for the future,
such promises, that it would be downright rudeness to throw a doubt on
their sincerity."

"Why did you marry him, my dear?" said Lady Lackington, with a little
sigh.

"I married him to vex Ridout; we had a quarrel at that _fete_ at
Chiswick, you remember, Tollertin's _fete_. Ridout was poor, and felt
his poverty. I don't believe I treated his scruples quite fairly. I
know I owned to him that I had no contempt for riches--that I thought
Belgrave-square, and the Opera, and Diamonds, and a smart Equipage, all
very commendable things: and Jack said, 'Then, there's your man.
Twining has twenty thous