'Her carriage, not herself?' said Edmund. 'Well, I think I might go with you to her house, Marian, if your feathers are not ashamed of such shabby company.'
'O, pray come!'
'And you will return to dinner, I hope, Mr. Arundel,' said Mrs. Lyddell, 'at half-past seven? Mr. Lyddell will be so glad to see you.'
Edmund accepted the invitation, and the two cousins went down stairs together. As soon as they were in the carriage, Edmund said, 'A lucky moment to come in. It is something to have seen you in all your splendour. You have grown into something magnificent!'
'All this finery makes me look taller than I really am.'
'Nevertheless, however you may try to conceal it, I am afraid you have turned into the full grown cat. I saw it in your letter.'
'O, Edmund, I am so sorry I wrote that letter.'
'Why? Are you happier about Gerald?'
'No, I don't know that I am,' said Marian, sighing; 'but--but I little thought it would make so much difference to you. I did not know what I was doing.'
'I am glad of it, or you would not have written so freely; though after all you could not have helped being like a sensible straightforward person.'
'O, it is untold relief that you are come; and yet I must be sorry--'
'I won't have you sorry. No one should regret having told the honest truth. The fact is, I ought never to have gone. And poor Gerald?'
'I have no more to say, only vague fears. But now you are come, it is all right.'
'Don't trust too much to me, Marian. Remember, it will be a generous thing in Gerald if he attends to me at all. He is not obliged to do so.'
'You will--you must do everything. Gerald is as fond of you as ever, I know he is, though he would not write. O, I am glad! You heard of our delightful going home, I hope?'
'Yes. All well there?' said Edmund, hurriedly.
'Very well. Agnes is grown so tall, and it is so very nice there. The old Manor house--'
'Well,' he broke in suddenly; 'and how do you get on with Selina Marchmont.'
'She is very, very kind. But O! here we are in her street, and I shall have no more of you to-day.'
'Not at dinner?'
'O; it is a great, horrid party, as Mrs. Lyddell should have warned you.'
'Could not I take you in to dinner?'
'I am afraid not. Mrs. Lyddell will never treat me as if I was at home, and I am afraid there is an honourable man that I must be bestowed on.'
They had reached Lady Marchmont's door, and going up stairs, found her looking like a princess in a fairy tale, in her white plumes and her diamonds; and Willie, the smallest, most delicate, and prettiest of little boys, admiring the splendours of his papa's yeomanry uniform.
In spite of being considerably provoked with Edmund for having come home, Lord and Lady Marchmont welcomed him with as much warmth as if
