"Oh, no; only it seems so odd. I didn't know that they knew each other;
not well, that is. And then----"

"Then what, my dear?"

"It seems odd; that's all. It's all very nice, I dare say, and I'm sure I
hope they will be happy." Lady Fawn, however, was displeased, and did not
speak to Lucy again before she started with Augusta on the journey to
London.

The carriage first stopped at the door of the married daughter in Warwick
Square. Now Mrs. Hittaway, whose husband was chairman of the Board of
Civil Appeals, and who was very well known at all Boards and among
official men generally, heard much more about things that were going on
than did her mother. And, having been emancipated from maternal control
for the last ten or twelve years, she could express herself before her
mother with more confidence than would have become the other girls.
"Mamma," she said, "you don't mean it!"

"I do mean it, Clara. Why should I not mean it?"

"She is the greatest vixen in all London."

"Oh, Clara!" said Augusta.

"And such a liar," said Mrs. Hittaway.

There came a look of pain across Lady Fawn's face, for Lady Fawn believed
in her eldest daughter. But yet she intended to fight her ground on a
matter so important to her as was this. "There is no word in the English