"I am sure," replied Lady Marchmont, "that she was delighted to receive it. I hate to have things wasted, and it was utterly wasted on me; but you are wrong as to the hero of the billet; it was placed in my bouquet by Lord Harvey."
"Lord Harvey!" exclaimed the other, with an expression of anger she could not at once disguise. The fact was, that, for some time past, Lady Mary Wortley had considered Lord Harvey as her own especial property. Now, nothing is more provoking to a woman than a lover's infidelity; it is a wrong which leaves her without even the satisfaction of revenge. His very infidelity shows that she has lost her power; and without power, where is revenge? A sneer is some comfort; and, fate be praised! there is always a good-natured friend to repeat it. "Well," said she, "Lord Harvey is doing his best to find if there be a 'yes' in the world. It would require—what is that rule in arithmetic? ah!—long division, to reckon up the number of refusals he has had this season! However, I suppose,
