Page:Ethel Churchill 2.pdf/262

260 divinity, refusal and rebuff were such very novel things to her, excepting from her husband; and from husbands they come as matters of course. But she was a petted, spoiled beauty; and to be dismissed in such an unceremonious manner was beyond her comprehension: she no longer wondered that Lord Marchmont was in opposition. As for Ethel, she was quite bewildered: she had felt such implicit reliance on Henrietta's success, that the disappointment was doubly bitter, because wholly unexpected. They had stood both so completely absorbed in their disagreeable reverie, that neither perceived the approach of a stranger, who was about to pass them with a slight but courteous bow, when he caught sight of Henrietta, and immediately stopped. "This is an unexpected pleasure!" exclaimed he. "What good fortune blows Lady Marchmont hither?" "Good fortune, do you call it?" cried Henrietta: "why I can scarcely refrain from venting my rage even upon poor, unoffending you. Good! my Lord; don't expect even a civil