knew every body, and every body knew Mrs. Poole. She became a widow at an early age, had no children, and few concerns of her own to attend to, and therefore very naturally took a considerable interest in those of other people.

"Pray, Lady Appleby," said the above-mentioned lady, did not you say that Mr. Lacy was coming here to-day?"

"I dare say I did," replied Lady Appleby, a tedious, speechifying woman; "for we do expect him; and I hope," she added, with a gracious bend, as if she were addressing the absent person, "to have the pleasure of detaining him some time." "Does he come alone?"

"I trust not; for I expect to see him accompanied by his amusing brother-in-law, Mr. Hartley."

"Do tell me something about the Lacys," said Mrs. Poole, turning to Lady Malvern; "I have not seen them this age. Of course you know them very well; they are such near neighbours of your father."

"Lord Rodborough is not such a very near neighbour," replied Lady Malvern, rather drily.

"Lord! my dear, I did not mean your fatherin-law; I was thinking of your own father's place at Dodswell, which cannot, I should suppose, be more than six miles from Lacy Park; and that is what I call a pleasant, easy visiting distance. Do you see much of them?"

"We never saw any of them before I married I suppose it is much the same now-is it not Agnes?"

"Precisely," said Miss Morton.

"But how odd that is!" pursued Mrs. Poole; "and do you never meet them any where?" "No, never.

"And what is the reason?"

"I don't know," replied Miss Morton.. "But I believe the fault lies chiefly in themselves. My father says that Sir William Lacy thinks none of his neighbours worth visiting. I have heard some people attribute it less to pride than to indolence: I have no right to give any opinion myself."

"Oh, as to pride," said Lady Malvern, "I don't know what should make them proud, unless it is always staying at home, and seeing nobody better than themselves. I am sure nobody pays them much attention; and they are never seen in the world, and don't come to town, and Lord Rodborough does not visit him; and as for her, I remember Lady Rodborough saying to me, one day last winter, Louisa,' who was Lady Lacy?' and I remember I could not tell her: and, by the by, who are they, Mrs. Poole?"

6

"She was a Bellingham of the Upperville family; and as for the Lacys, they, you know, are as old as the flood, and very well connected too. Sir William Lacy's mother was Lady Mary Loftus, aunt of the mad Lord Loftus, whose wife ran away with Sir Clement Packworth, the brother of the man who shot Lord Cheadle, husband of the naughty Lady Cheadle, whose brother was that Colonel Blake, who won so much from poor George Templeton, who had just entered his regiment, and whose sister made that unhappy low connexion which we were lamentiong the other day. Sir William Lacy, when I knew him first, was a very promising young man; but I hear of late that he has grown quite a mope; I hope the son will not take after him.”

"I hope not," said Lady Malvern, in a tone that contradicted the assertion; "but I must say

I think he will, if I may judge from what I have seen of him."

"Perhaps you have seen a good deal.”

"Oh, no, dear! no; I pretend to know very little of him, or he of me, I dare say. We just speakscarcely that. I remember this very spring at Almack's, I was standing talking to Lady Rodborough, and he came by; and he spoke en passant to Lady Rodborough, and then he stared at me as if he hardly knew whether to bow or not; and I acknowledged him-and then he bent in a sort of way as if he thought he did me a favour, which I thought rather ridiculous."

"I am sure," said Lady Appleby, who always apologized for those who wanted it, though with more benevolence than judgment—“I am sure he could not have known it was you.'

"I believe his eyes are tolerably good. No, Lady Appleby, depend upon it, it was mere bad manner. I know many people who don't like

him."

"Mr. Sackville likes him," observed Agnes Morton.

"People generally like those," said Lady Malvern, "who are under obligations to them."

"Obligations! how? do tell me;" said Miss Tyrwhitt to Agnes Morton. "What does he owe to Mr. Sackville?"

"Only his life," replied Agnes, with a smile. "They were in Italy together-Mr. Lacy was near being drowned in the Lago Maggiore, and Mr. Sackville fortunately saved him.”

"He is a fine young man," said Mrs. Poole. "Who? Mr. Sackville?"

"No, my dear, I should not speak of him as a young man, though, to be sure, he is not much

more than thirty. I was speaking of Mr. Lacy, who is a young man, and a fine young man too." Perhaps he may be," said Miss Morton; "but I feel very much disposed to dislike him." "Why so?"

"Oh-why-because it is my duty-is it not, sister? You must know we hoist the black flag at Dodswell, and give no quarter to a Lacy.”

"I suppose," said Mrs. Poole, "you will allow him to be good-looking."

"I won't allow him to be good for any thing, if I can help it," replied Miss Morton; "but, perhaps, Mrs. Poole, you are not aware that my dislike proceeds from true meritorious party-spirit. To tell you the truth, I have never seen this gentleman whom I am so ready to abuse."

"I should have been more surprised at your disliking him, if you had seen him;" replied Mrs. Poole.

"It is a pity," resumed Miss Morton, laughing, "to waste such compliments upon absent persons. Do say something flattering to us. I long to engage you to be my trumpeter."

"Thank you, my dear; but I had rather not, unless I could keep the office to myself, and prevent others from praising you too; and that would be impossible."

"My dear Mrs. Poole, you overflow with civil sayings. You are like the fairy-tale girl that talked pearls and diamonds. I cannot bear this fire myself-I must turn it off upon Mr. Lacy. How long have you known him?"

"Ever since May. I saw him one morning at Lady Ashborne's, talked about him after he was gone, and was told he was clever and pleasant, and so forth; and it happened just then that I was looking about for some new young men to put on my

list, for I always like to know a good many; and several lately had married off, and he was just the person I wanted; so I said, 'Lady Ashborne, do send him to me, and tell him I used to know his father, and I must have him go next week to my friend Mrs. Chatterley's little party!' Somehow or other he never came. However, about a week afterwards, one night, I forget where Lady Ashborne brought him up to me. I asked him to a party, and saw him afterwards several times both at my own house and elsewhere.

"And what was his style of conversation?"

"Merely the style of all the world-he was lively, and pleasant and full of chit-chat, and knew what was going on, and told one all the accidents, and gambling, and elopements, and marriages that were to be, or were not to be."

"Scandal, in short," interrupted Lady Malvern. "Why, to be sure, some people might call it scandal-though, I don't remember that he ever spoke particularly ill of any one."

"Oh, but he must;" pursued Lady Malvern"you are only too good-natured, Mrs. Poole, and won't remember any thing unpleasant."

"Well—I don't know-I hope I am all I can say, is, that I found him agreeable."

"Indeed," said Lady Appleby, "he is very agreeable, and as for scandal I can satisfy you on that point: he never told me an anecdote in his life, and always expressed himself upon every occasion in the most obliging manner possible."

Now really, my dear Lady Appleby," said Lady Malvern, with a provoking smile, "you are a very cruel person: that was the unkindest cut of all. 'Expresses himself on every occasion in the most obliging manner possible!' Quite intolerable, I assure you. There is nothing more disagreeable