The partial restraint and embarrassment, caused at first by the strange terms on which my wife and I were living together, gradually vanished before the frequency of my visits to North Villa.  We soon began to speak with all the ease, all the unpremeditated frankness of a long intimacy.  Margaret’s powers of conversation were generally only employed to lead me to exert mine.  She was never tired of inducing me to speak of my family.  She listened with every appearance of interest, while I talked of my father, my sister, or my elder brother; but whenever she questioned me directly about any of them, her inquiries invariably led away from their characters and dispositions, to their personal appearance, their every-day habits, their dress, their intercourse with the gay world, the things they spent their money on, and other topics of a similar nature.

For instance; she always listened, and listened attentively, to what I told her of my father’s character, and of the principles which regulated his life.  She showed every disposition to profit by the instructions I gave her beforehand, about how she should treat his peculiarities when she was introduced to him.  But, on all these occasions, what really interested her most, was to hear how many servants waited on him; how often he went to Court; how many lords and ladies he knew; what he said or did to his servants, when they committed mistakes; whether he was ever angry with his children for asking him for money; and whether he limited my sister to any given number of dresses in the course of the year?

Again; whenever our conversation turned on Clara, if I began by describing her kindness, her gentleness and goodness, her simple winning manners—­I was sure to be led insensibly into a digression about her height, figure, complexion, and style of dress.  The latter subject especially interested Margaret; she could question me on it, over and over again.  What was Clara’s usual morning dress?  How did she wear her hair?  What was her evening dress?  Did she make a difference between a dinner party and a ball?  What colours did she prefer?  What dressmaker did she employ?  Did she wear much jewellery?  Which did she like best in her hair, and which were most fashionable, flowers or pearls?  How many new dresses did she have in a year; and was there more than one maid especially to attend on her?

Then, again:  Had she a carriage of her own?  What ladies took care of her when she went out?  Did she like dancing?  What were the fashionable dances at noblemen’s houses?  Did young ladies in the great world practise the pianoforte much?  How many offers had my sister had?  Did she go to Court, as well as my father?  What did she talk about to gentlemen, and what did gentlemen talk about to her?  If she were speaking to a duke, how often would she say “your Grace” to him? and would a duke get her a chair, or an ice, and wait on her just as gentlemen without titles waited on ladies, when they met them in society?