stairs--"but we'll talk of that another time."

"Nay, nay, my dear Lady Delacour, now, now," said Clarence, seizing her
hand.--"Upon condition! upon what condition?"

"Upon condition that you do a little job for me--indeed for Belinda. She
is to go with me to the birth-night, and she has often hinted to me that
our horses are shockingly shabby for people of our condition. I know she
wishes that upon such an occasion--her first appearance at court, you
know--we should go in style. Now my dear positive lord has _said_ he will
not let us have a pair of the handsomest horses I ever saw, which are at
Tattersal's, and on which Belinda, I know, has secretly set her heart, as
I have openly, in vain."

"Your ladyship and Miss Portman cannot possibly set your hearts on any
thing in vain--especially on any thing that it is in the power of Clarence
Hervey to procure. Then," added he, gallantly kissing her hand, "may I
thus seal my treaty of peace?"

"What audacity!--don't you see these people coming in?" cried Lady
Delacour; and she withdrew her hand, but with no great precipitation. She
was evidently, "at this moment, as in all the past," neither afraid nor
ashamed that Mr. Hervey's devotions to her should be paid in public. With
much address she had satisfied herself as to his views with respect to
Belinda. She was convinced that he had no immediate thoughts of matrimony;
but that if he were condemned to marry, Miss Portman would be his wife. As
this did not interfere with her plans, Lady Delacour was content.