per annum, Lady Fawn could not be rich. And yet who would say that an old
lady and her daughters could be poor with three thousand pounds a year to
spend? It may be taken almost as a rule by the unennobled ones of this
country, that the sudden possession of a title would at once raise the
price of every article consumed twenty per cent. Mutton that before cost
ninepence would cost tenpence a pound, and the mouths to be fed would
demand more meat. The chest of tea would run out quicker. The labourer's
work, which for the farmer is ten hours a day, for the squire nine, is for
the peer only eight. Miss Jones, when she becomes Lady de Jongh, does not
pay less than threepence apiece for each "my lady" with which her ear is
tickled. Even the baronet when he becomes a lord has to curtail his
purchases because of increased price, unless he be very wide awake to the
affairs of the world. Old Lady Fawn, who would not on any account have
owed a shilling which she could not pay, and who, in the midst of her
economies, was not close-fisted, knew very well what she could do and what
she could not. The old family carriage and the two lady's maids were
there, as necessaries of life; but London society was not within her
reach. It was, therefore, the case that they had not heard very much about
Lizzie Eustace. But they had heard something. "I hope she won't be too
fond of going out," said Amelia, the second girl.

"Or extravagant," said Georgiana, the third.

"There was some story of her being terribly in debt when she married Sir
Florian Eustace," said Diana, the fourth.

"Frederic will be sure to see to that," said Augusta, the eldest.

"She is very beautiful," said Lydia, the fifth.