rest and good air; you would return a great deal fresher to the remainder of your gaieties.Your father would bring you down, I know: indeed, he is coming naturally.' 'Oh, mammal' said Lady Harriet, the youngest daughter of the house - the prettiest, the most indulged; 'I cannot go; there is the water-party up to Maidenhead on the 20th, I should be so sorry to miss it: and Mrs Duncan's ball, and Grisi's concert; please, don't want me.Besides, I should do no good.I can't make provincial small-talk; I'm not up in the local politics of Hollingford.I should be making mischief, I know I should.' 'Very well, my dear,' said Lady Cumnor, sighing, 'I had forgotten the Maidenhead water-party, or I would not have asked you.' 'What a pity it isn't the Eton holidays, so that you could have had Hollingford's boys to help you to do the honours, mamma.They are such affable little prigs.It was the greatest fun to watch them last year at Sir Edward's, doing the honours of their grandfather's house to much such a collection of humble admirers as you get together at the Towers.I shall never forget seeing Edgar gravely squiring about an old lady in a portentous black bonnet, and giving her information in the correctest grammar possible.' 'Well, I like those lads,' said Lady Cuxhaven; 'they are on the way to become true gentlemen.But, mamma, why shouldn't you have Clare to stay with you? You like her, and she is just the person to save you the troubles of hospitality to the Hollingford people, and we should all be so much more comfortable if we knew you had her with you.' 'Yes, Clare would do very well,' said Lady Cumnor; 'but is not it her school-time or something? We must not interfere with her school so as to injure her, for I am afraid she is not doing too well as it is; and she has been so very unlucky ever since she left us - first her husband died, and then she lost Lady Davies' situation, and then Mrs Maude's, and now Mr Preston told your father it was all she could do to pay her way in Ashcombe, though Lord Cumnor lets her have the house rent-free.' 'I can't think how it is,' said Lady Harriet.'She's not very wise, certainly;but she is so useful and agreeable, and has such pleasant manners.I should have thought any one who wasn't particular about education would have been charmed to keep her as a governess.' 'What do you mean by not being particular about education? Most people who keep governesses for their children are supposed to be particular,'
第43章 DRIFTING INTO DANGER (5)（1 / 3）