But that mamma did not think so, nor even wish it should be so, was evident from the indignation not less than the sorrow of her countenance on reading the announcement of the marriage sent so considerately by her dear friend, Lady Penrhyn, for the amiable purpose of making her very miserable. That the obliging missive answered its purpose we have seen, but, as the two ladies had too many points in common not to understand one another, no long time elapsed before the dowager drew some consolation from the belief, that at the very time when a source of chagrin was thus offered to her, the kind hand which bestowed the blow belonged to one who was overwhelmed with vexation herself. "If she ever loved any human being (but of that I have my doubts), "it was certainly her brother; and, since she caught that fool, her husband, it may probably have entered her head that Charles might be as lucky as herself; in that case, she is mortified very sufficiently, I must own; nevertheless, she has no right to think lightly of the honour he has attained, which is more, a great deal, than she had a right to expect; but she is, in fact, an odious creature."
Lady Anne was happily interrupted by the arrival of the post with a letter, franked by her brother the Earl of Rotheles; he was so ailing and so indolent, that she was not surprised to find it merely an envelope to a slip of newspaper, such a circumstance having not unfrequently occurred to her before. She could not have any doubt that it was merely a repetition of
