Harriot Freke is visited by every body but old dowagers and old maids: I
am neither an old dowager nor an old maid--the consequence is obvious, my
lord.' Pertness in dialogue, my dear, often succeeds better with my lord
than wit: I therefore saved the sterling gold, and bestowed upon him
nothing but counters. I tell you this to save the credit of my taste and
judgment.

"But to return to my friendship for Harriot Freke. I, of course, repeated
to her every word which had passed between my husband and me. She
out-heroded Herod upon the occasion; and laughed so much at what she
called my folly in _pleading guilty_ in the Lawless cause, that I was
downright ashamed of myself, and, purely to prove my innocence, I
determined, upon the first convenient opportunity, to renew my intimacy
with the colonel. The opportunity which I so ardently desired of redeeming
my independence was not long wanting. Lawless, as my stars (which you know
are always more in fault than ourselves) would have it, returned just at
this time from the continent, where he had been with his regiment; he
returned with a wound across his forehead and a black fillet, which made
him look something more like a hero, and ten times more like a coxcomb,
than ever. He was in fashion, at all events; and amongst other ladies,
Mrs. Luttridge, odious Mrs. Luttridge! smiled upon him. The colonel,
however, had taste enough to know the difference between smile and smile:
he laid himself and his laurels at my feet, and I carried him and them
about in triumph. Wherever I went, especially to Mrs. Luttridge's, envy
and scandal joined hands to attack me, and I heard wondering and
whispering wherever I went. I had no object in view but to provoke my
husband; therefore, conscious of the purity of my intentions, it was my
delight to brave the opinion of the wondering world. I gave myself no
concern about the effect my coquetry might have upon the object of this
flirtation. Poor Lawless! Heart, I took it for granted, he had none; how