'No, no, for mercy's sake! my dear Lady Clonbrony, no hints, no hints,
no remarks! What would you have!--she reading, and my lord at the back
of her chair, leaning over--and allowed, mind, to lean over to read the
same thing. Can't be better! Never saw any man yet allowed to come so
near her! Now, Lady Clonbrony, not a word, not a look, I beseech.'

'Well, well!--but if they had a little music.'

'My daughter's tired of music. How much do I owe your ladyship
now?--three rubbers, I think. Now, though you would not believe it of a
young girl,' continued Mrs. Broadhurst, 'I can assure your ladyship, my
daughter would often rather go to a book than a ball.'

'Well, now, that's very extraordinary, in the style in which she has
been brought up; yet books and all that are so fashionable now, that
it's very natural,' said Lady Clonbrony.

About this time, Mr. Berryl, Lord Colambre's Cambridge friend, for whom
his lordship had fought the battle of the curricle with Mordicai, came
to town. Lord Colambre introduced him to his mother, by whom he was
graciously received; for Mr. Berryl was a young gentleman of good
figure, good address, good family, heir to a good fortune, and in every
respect a fit match for Miss Nugent. Lady Clonbrony thought that it
would be wise to secure him for her niece before he should make his
appearance in the London world, where mothers and daughters would
soon make him feel his own consequence. Mr. Berryl, as Lord Colambre's
intimate friend, was admitted to the private evening parties at Lady
Clonbrony's, and he contributed to render them still more agreeable.
His information, his habits of thinking, and his views, were all totally
different from Mr. Salisbury's; and their collision continually struck