Page:Hannah More (1887 Charlotte Mary Yonge British).djvu/162

150 Bab affected no delicacy, she laughed at restraint, she had shaken hands with decorum,—

Next he meets a Mrs. Fentham, a religious lady, who sits in Passiontide with A Week's Preparation open before her, but talking to all the comers and goers; and while refusing a guinea to help an old servant after a fire, gives ten to Signor Squallini's benefit. Then there is a charming warm-hearted, rattle-pated Lady Melbury—a too flattering likeness, as Sir William W. Pepys declared, of the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire. She utterly ruins her poor tradesfolk by running in debt, weeps, borrows, and begins her course again.

And after all these experiences, Cœlebs betakes himself to Stanley Grove, where, of course, all is perfect, especially the eldest daughter, Lucilia, who is altogether the model woman. She is neither a beauty nor a genius, and neither plays, sings, nor draws, though she is cultivated up to the point of having a perfect taste and appreciation of music and art. As to study, when one morning the hero asks Mr. Stanley his views on the propriety of young ladies learning the dead languages, "Mrs. Stanley smiled, Phœbe laughed outright, Lucilia, who had nearly finished making tea, blushed excessively. Little Celia, who was sitting on