it by no means agreeable to hold him in the light of a banished man, and should rejoice to meet him in any house but my own."
"I am sure I would get up a little affair on purpose to enable you to do so, dear Lady Penrhyn; but, in my narrow circumstances (to you I do not hesitate to refer to them), it is an object, I confess; and, when one has few servants and few things, the hiring of plate, and so forth, becomes very expensive, you know."
"Don't hesitate on that account, I beseech you; let Fanchette come in a hackney-coach in the morning, and I will direct the housekeeper to send you something of every thing—plate, candlesticks, lamps, damask—and you won't take it amiss if we should happen to have game or poultry come up that I put that amongst the conveniences; and I am sure you will permit me to invite a friend or two, for you know I only deal with choice spirits, the élite of the beau monde."
Much as Lady Anne had rejoiced in the ruse which had so materially assisted her plans, yet these latter words produced a kind of cold trickling through her frame; she remembered the Countess of Rotheles's advice, and she well knew the very pointed words and looks Lady Allerton could assume when it suited her humour to be censorious, and was well aware that every particular of the evening's entertainment would be transmitted with a jaundiced tint to Rotheles Castle for the amusement and animadversion of her invalid brother. He must see the propriety of young Pen-
