s hinted in the hall, that when my Lord was not in the room, my Lady
got up to help herself to what she wanted from the sideboard!! And it
was whispered in the female conclave of the housekeeper's room, that her
Lady-ship seemed even to like to--lace her own stays!!"

Again, after Lady Castleton receiving a visit from a ton-ish family, his
Lordship asks:--

And did they make many inquiries of you? ask many questions?"

"Oh, such a many!"

"So many, dearest love, you mean to say."

"Well, so I do, thank you; and then the mamma asked me, as she had never
seen me before, if I had not been much abroad; and I said, never at all
till I married; and then she said, 'What! had I been to Paris since?'
and I find she meant foreign parts by abroad. And she told me that we
ought to go to London soon; that the season was advanced, and that the
Pasta would come out soon this spring. What is the Pasta--a plant?"

"A plant! no, love. Pasta is a singer's name, you could not be expected
to know that; but I hope you didn't say any thing to show them your
ignorance?"

"Oh, no; you told me, whenever I was completely puzzled, that silence
was best; so I said nothing. Pasta's the name of a singer, then! Oh,
that accounts, for a moment after she the mamma said, that her daughter
Arabella sang delightfully, and asked me if I would sing with her; so I
said no, I'd much rather listen. That was right, warn't it? You see I
knew you'd ask me all about it, so I recollected it for you. Arabella
then asked me if I would accompany her? so I said, Wherever she
liked,--where did she want to go? But, I suppose, she altered her mind,
for she sat down to the grand instrument you had brought here for me to
begin my lessons upon; and then she sang such an extraordinary song--all
coming from her throat. And the sister asked me if I understood German?
and I answered, No, nor French neither."

"That was an unnecessary addition, my love."

"Well, so it was. Then the youngest sister explained to me, that it was
a song a Swiss peasant girl sang whilst she was milking her cow; and I
said that must be very difficult, to sing while milking a cow. And then
the mamma asked how I knew; and I said I had _tried_ very _often_."

"How could you, dear Lucy, volunteer such an avowal?"

"I thought you would be afraid of that; but it all did very well, for
the mother said I was so amusing, had so much natural wit, and they all
tried to persuade me I had said something