both figure and face were fine, her dress elegant, and the turquoises so becoming, that when Montague took his seat by her at table, he began to think the wife herself was something in the matrimonial contract about to be made. The delusion, by a little maternal arrangement, hints of timidity, &c., lasted very respectably till after the wedding, when with as little blushing and as much blonde as possible, the name of Lorraine was changed for that of Delawarr. They were the happiest couple spoken of. Sir Walter had presented his late wife's emeralds, and his son had them reset; the bride's beauty quite inspired Sir Thomas Lawrence; and Mr. Delawarr was returned for the county.
In the midst of a brilliant public career, he had little time to discover whether his household divinity was very like those of old—a statue. Lady Alicia was good-natured—that good nature which is composed of a soft smile, a low voice, indulgence of every kind—self among the number: for the rest, if her mind had a feature, it was indolence; and her cashmere, character, and carriage, were alike irreproachable.
Such was the lady with whom Emily had to encounter the dangers of a tête-à-tête. It
