Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/292

 LOVE 270 " She does not," Grevell writes. " wish for much society, but to retain two or three creditable acquaintances in the neighbour- hood. She has avoided every appearance of giddiness, and prides herself on the neat- ness of her person and the good order of her house." During these years, moreover, her beauty was at its prime, and to Romney she gae no fewer than three hundred sittings. Such a friendship, however, could not continue indefinitely. Grevell, moreover, for a man of his position, was anything but rich. Five hundred pounds a year was an Sir William immediately evinced a marked admiration for Emily, but she, although not a little flattered by his attentions, did not suspect for a minute that more than a bonne camaraderie could exist between her- self and him. Hamilton was an aesthetic old gentleman, fifty- five years of age, and Emily nicknamed him " Pliny the Elder," never imagining that she was more to him than " the fair tea-maker of Edgware Road." Grevell. however, saw in all this the op- portunity for a brilliant stroke of diplomacy. LADY HAMILTON A/ffr income large enough to maintain him per- sonally, but when called upon to support a household in addition, the sum failed palpably. But how to dissolve the partner- ship w-as a problem which troubled him. Discard Emily he could not, remain with her he could not. There seemed to be no way out of the difficulty. ^lr^{^'^' ^°'^'c^'cr, an uncle to Grevell, Sir William Hamilton, the British ambas- sador at Naples, returned to England AS "CASSANDRA" Roniiify Why should not Emilv and her mother go to Naples as guests of the ambassador ? Sir William agreed to the proposition readily. It was delightful, and in no way offensive to the exquisite good taste either of the ambassador or his nephew. Thus Emily went, and went as unsus- pectingly as a lamb goes to the slaughter. Only gradually did she discover the true nature of the tacit bargain between Sir William and his nephew.