ter with a young man of her own!

She was dining out that night with both Selina and Lionel--a conjunction
that was rather rare. She was by no means always invited with them, and
Selina constantly went without her husband. Appearances, however,
sometimes got a sop thrown them; three or four times a month Lionel and
she entered the brougham together like people who still had forms, who
still said 'my dear.' This was to be one of those occasions, and Mrs.
Berrington's young unmarried sister was included in the invitation. When
Laura reached home she learned, on inquiry, that Selina had not yet come
in, and she went straight to her own room. If her sister had been there
she would have gone to hers instead--she would have cried out to her as
soon as she had closed the door: 'Oh, stop, stop--in God's name, stop
before you go any further, before exposure and ruin and shame come down
and bury us!' That was what was in the air--the vulgarest disgrace, and
the girl, harder now than ever about her sister, was conscious of a more
passionate desire to save herself. But Selina's absence made the
difference that during the next hour a certain chill fell upon this
impulse from other feelings: she found suddenly that she was late and
she began to dress. They were to go together after dinner to a couple of
balls; a diversion which struck her as ghastly for people who carried
such horrors in their breasts. Ghastly was the idea of the drive of
husband, wife and sister in pursuit of pleasure, with falsity and
detection and hate between them. Selina's maid came to her door to tell
her that she was in the carriage--an extraordinary piece of punctuality,
which made her wonder, as Selina was always dreadfully late for
everything. Laura went down as quickly as she could, passed through the
open door, where the servants were grouped in the foolish majesty of
their superfluous attendance, and through the file of dingy gazers who
had paused at the sight of the carpet across the pavement and the
waiting carriage, in which Selina sat in pure white splendour. Mrs.
Berrington had a tiara on her head and a proud patience in her face, as
if her sister were really a sore trial. As soon as the girl had taken
her place she said to the footman: 'Is Mr. Berrington there?'--to which
the man replied: 'No ma'am, not yet.' It was not new to Laura that if
there was any one later as a general thing than Selina it was Selina's
husband. 'Then he must take a hansom. G