I believed so myself.  Lord G——­ was a very good sort of man, and ought not to bear with me so much as he had done:  but it would be kind in them, not to tell him what I had owned.

The earl lifted up one hand; the countess both.  They had not come to dine with me, they said, after the answer I had returned, but as they were afraid something was wrong between us.

Mediators are not to be of one side only, I said:  and as they had been so kindly free in blaming me, I hoped they would be as free with him, when they saw him.

And then it was, For God’s sake, Charlotte; and, Let me entreat you, Lady G——.  And let me, too, beseech you, madam, said Emily, with tears stealing down her cheeks.

You are both very good:  you are a sweet girl, Emily.  I have a too-playful heart.  It will give me some pain, and some pleasure; but if I had not more pleasure than pain from my play, I should not be so silly.

My lord not coming in, and the dinner being ready, I ordered it to be served.—­Won’t you wait a little longer for Lord G——?  No.  I hope he is safe, and well.  He is his own master, as well as mine; (I sighed, I believe!) and, no doubt, has a paramount pleasure in pursuing his own choice.

They raved.  I begged that they would let us eat our dinner with comfort.  My lord, I hoped, would come in with a keen appetite, and Nelthorpe should get a supper for him that he liked.

When we had dined, and retired into the adjoining drawing-room, I had another schooling-bout:  Emily was even saucy.  But I took it all:  yet, in my heart, was vexed at Lord G——­’s perverseness.

At last, in came the honest man.  He does not read this, and so cannot take exceptions, and I hope you will not, at the word honest.

So lordly! so stiff! so solemn!—­Upon my word!—­Had it not been Sunday, I would have gone to my harpsichord directly.  He bowed to Lord and Lady L——­, and to Emily, very obligingly; to me he nodded.—­I nodded again; but, like a good-natured fool, smiled.  He stalked to the chimney; turned his back towards it, buttoned up his mouth, held up his glowing face, as if he were disposed to crow; yet had not won the battle.—­One hand in his bosom; the other under the skirt of his waistcoat, and his posture firmer than his mind.—­Yet was my heart so devoid of malice, that I thought his attitude very genteel; and, had we not been man and wife, agreeable.

We hoped to have found your lordship at home, said Lord L——­, or we should not have dined here.

If Lord G——­ is as polite a husband as a man, said I, he will not thank your lordship for this compliment to his wife.

Lord G——­ swelled, and reared himself up.  His complexion, which was before in a glow, was heightened.

Poor man! thought I.—­But why should my tender heart pity obstinate people?—­Yet I could not help being dutiful.—­Have you dined, my lord? said I, with a sweet smile, and very courteous.