Barford Abbey by Susannah Minific Gunning
page 77 of 205 (37%)
page 77 of 205 (37%)
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people, the more they drink in, the more it rages.
My answers were such as I always return to the inquisitive.--Yes, Madam;--No, Madam;--very well;--very good;--not certain;--quite undetermin'd.--Finding herself unsuccessful with _me_, she apply'd to _Lady Powis_; but alas! poor maiden, she could drain nothing from that fountain; the streams would not flow;--they were driven back, by endeavouring to force them into a wrong channel. These were not certainly her first defeats, by the clever way of hiding her chagrin:--it is gone whilst she adjusts the flower in her bosom,--or opens and shuts her fan twice.--How can _she_ be mortified by trifles,--when the _Lord_ of _her heart_,--the sweet, simpering, fair-faced, Lord Baily keeps his eyes incessantly fixed on her, like centinels on guard?--They cannot speak, _indeed they cannot_, or I should expect them to call out every half hour, "All is well." I admire Lord and Lady Allen. I say, I admire them: their manners are full of easy freedom, pleasing vivacity.--I cannot admire all the world; I wish I could.--Mr. and Mrs. Winter happen not to suit my taste;--they are a kind of people who look down on every one of middle fortune;--seem to despise ancestry,--yet are always fond of mixing with the great.--Their rise was too sudden;--they jump'd into life all at once.--Such quick transitions require great equality of mind;--the blaze of splendor was too much for their _weak_ eyes;--the _flare_ of surprise is still visible. It was some time before the conversation became general.--First, and ever to have precedence,--the weather;--next, roads;--then houses,--plantations,--fashions,--dress,--equipage;--and last of all, |
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