Page:Lady Anne Granard 1.pdf/229

224 being well with his brother-in-law, who was known to be well with the ministry, and, of course, of meeting with his sister; therefore, if she would forego her usual habits, and especially relinquish a certain Russian count attached to the embassy, who had succeeded the late German baron, all would be well; but, if she persisted in drawing attention and awakening scandal, there was no saying where the mischief would stop. That the countess knew her brother, the earl, made an addition to her income she was well aware, but she was not less so that the lady did not know to what amount, and she trusted the secret would remain undivulged; nevertheless, it had struck her as by no means unlikely, that the amiable lady in question might suggest the propriety of diminishing her allowance (be it either small or large) now her family was diminished, and, of course, dreaded exposing herself by any possible error of conduct to such an event. Hastily arranging her necessities, her wishes, her fears, and her desires, she thus began to address the dear friend she alike dreaded, despised, and persevered in attaching to herself and her measures:— "Bring any one you deem a desirable parti, of course, but allow me to observe, dear Lady Penrhyn, that" "Yes! I see, that they must be really crême a la crême. I know all that, because you are compelled to ask what Mary Wolstonecraft, in days gone by, would term 'the square-elbowed, family drudge,' Mrs.