object; and you, Henrietta, are just at hand to be that object."
"'Loving goes by haps;
Some Cupids kill with arrows, some with traps;'"
muttered Miss Aubrey.
"The character you assume," continued Lady Rotheles, not heeding the interruption, "must be completely in opposition to that to which his attention is at present directed. Mary is tame, meek, spiritless—you must, therefore, be lively, quick, and piquante. Fortunately, your Parisian tournure will save your vivacity from vulgarity. Though, I must say, not one English girl in a thousand is to be trusted out of the security of insipidity; but you are French enough to be animated without being pert. Moreover, I do not think it necessary that you should disguise your preference for Lord Allerton."
"I should be clever," thought Henrietta, "to disguise what does not exist."
But all that she deemed it necessary to express of her secret thoughts was her sense of her aunt's kindness, and, above all, of her aunt's talents. This tribute was graciously received, for Lady Rotheles was a Catherine de Medicis on a small scale. She delighted in schemes and in projects; she governed her husband by a series of manœuvres, whose only fault was their being entirely wasted; as a simple wish, openly expressed, would have answered every purpose. She
