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216 "But he is no worse for that, mamma says." "Poor soul!" ejaculated Mrs. Palmer, "she must be far gone herself." "Such a person would save paying singers, which she can ill afford," said Helen; "and surely it would be folly to afford them, in any case, with a daughter who can warble a simple ballad as well as you, and another who can sing duets with mine most delightfully. You have no idea how well Mrs. Penrhyn and Mrs. Gooch sing together; the first has the finer voice, the last the better instruction; but they manage admirably together," said Mrs. Palmer. While these observations were passing, at the happy dwelling of the lately proscribed daughter, her mother, in a state of great perturbation, wrote and re-wrote note after note, to her dear friend Lady Penrhyn, all of which were meant, in fact, to say, "I invite you earnestly, but I hope you won't come." It is a very difficult thing for the most cunning, when they say one thing and mean another, to hide their wishes from one as practised as themselves; and an awkward thing to commit yourselves in writing at all where a secret or a scheme is concerned. Lady Anne had just determined to abandon all writing, save the common routine card-call upon her friend, and leave to the chances of conversation the impression she desired to make, when a knock was heard, and, in another moment, as if she had possessed the power "to call spirits from the vasty deep" of luxury, Lady Penrhyn stood before her.