Tuesday, 9th August.

[Sidenote:  The Horse Show]

Dearest Mamma,—­There is a huge party here for the Horse Show, and I daresay I shall enjoy myself.  We had no sooner got into the station at Paddington than in the distance I caught sight of Lord Valmond.  I pretended not to see him, and got behind a barrow of trunks, and then slipped into the carriage and made Agnes sit by the door.  We saw him walking up and down, and, just before the train started, he came and got into our carriage.  He seemed awfully surprised to see me, said he had not an idea he should meet me, and apologised for disturbing me, but he said all the other carriages were full.  He seemed so uppish and unconcerned that I felt obliged to ask him how he enjoyed his dinner with Aunt Maria on Saturday.  He said he had enjoyed it awfully, and that Aunt Maria was a charming hostess.  He asked me if I was going far down the line, or only just on the river.  I said not very far.  I tried to be as stiff as possible and not speak, and I did not tell him where I was going, but, do you know, Mamma, there is no snubbing him.  He said at once that he was going to Hazeldene Court, to stay with his cousins the Westaways.  I said, “Indeed!” and he said, “Yes, aren’t they cousins of yours too?” and when I said “Yes,” he said he felt sure we were related, and mightn’t he call me Elizabeth!!!  I just told him I thought him the rudest, most detestable man I had ever met; and if he spoke to me again at all, I should ask the guard to find me another carriage.

[Sidenote:  Lord Valmond Presumes]

He was awfully surprised, and said he had not meant to be the least rude; he thought it was the custom for cousins to call each other by their Christian names, and his name was Harry. (Just as if I did not know that, after hearing Mrs. Smith calling him every few minutes!) I said in a freezing tone we were not related in any way, and I wished to read the paper, upon which he produced every imaginable kind, lots of ladies’ papers that he could not possibly have wanted for himself.  I don’t know who he expected to meet.  However, I would not have any of them, but looked at a Punch I had bought myself.  You know that uncomfortable feeling one has when some one is staring at one—­it makes one obliged to look up—­so after a while our eyes met over the Punch, and he smiled, and his teeth are so white.  All he said was, “I was thinking of the Clarkes and Clarks.”  And in spite of my being indignant with him I could not help laughing, when I remembered about them, and then it was hard to be very stiff again at once.

[Sidenote:  The Offending Dimple]