Then they began to
expatiate with fresh enthusiasm on her unparalleled loveliness.
'O Cadurcis,' said a young noble, who was one of his extreme admirers,
'she is the only creature I ever beheld worthy of being one of your
heroines.'
'Whom are you talking about?' asked Cadurcis in a rather listless
tone.
'The new beauty, of course.'
'And who may she be?'
'Miss Herbert, to be sure. Who speaks or thinks of any one else?'
'What, Ve----, I mean Miss Herbert?' exclaimed Cadurcis, with no
little energy.
'Yes. Do you know her?'
'Do you mean to say--' and Cadurcis stopped and rose from the table,
and joined the party round the fire. 'What Miss Herbert is it?' he
added, after a short pause.
'Why _the_ Miss Herbert; Herbert's daughter, to be sure. She was
presented to-day by her mother.
'Lady Annabel?'
'The same.'
'Presented to-day!' said Cadurcis audibly, yet speaking as it were to
himself. 'Presented to-day! Presented! How strange!'
'So every one thinks; one of the strangest things that ever happened,'
remarked a bystander.
'And I did not even know they were in town,' continued Cadurcis, for,
from his irregular hours, he had not seen his cousin since the party
of yesterday. He began walking up and down the room, muttering,
'Masham, Weymouth, London, presented at Court, and I know nothing.
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