Page:Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope.djvu/329

 told me one was a relation of Sir Augustus Forster, our ambassador at Turin. "Go instantly to them," said she, "for Sir Augustus is an old friend of mine, and be particularly attentive to Mr. Forster—indeed, to both of them. Tell them, I am very sorry I can't see them; for, when I get into conversation, I become animated, and then I feel the effects of it afterwards; but assure them that they are welcome to make their home of their present lodging for a couple of days or a couple of hours, or as long as they like. Do they look gentlemanlike?" she asked. "Ah!" continued she, "what a charm good-breeding gives to mankind, and how odious vulgarity is after it! Only reflect! I, who have been all my life accustomed to the most refined society, what I must feel sometimes to have nothing to do but with beasts. But go, go! and make them as comfortable as you can."

They were in the strangers' room, which stood in a small garden, ornamented with a few rose-bushes, pomegranate and olive-trees, and some flowering plants. It was a little enclosure, which had by no means a disagreeable aspect, surrounded by a wall topped with prickly thorn-bushes. Once inside this place, the new comer could know nothing of what was passing without. Such were Lady Hester's contrivances: everything about her must wear an air of mystery.