Griselda would, she did not doubt, make a good
wife; but Lady Lufton was not so sure as she once had been that
she herself would be able to keep up so strong a feeling for her
daughter-in-law as she had hitherto hoped to do. "Ludovic, have you
been here long?" she said, smiling as she always did smile when her
eyes fell upon her son's face.
"This instant arrived; and I hurried on after you, as Miss Dunstable
told me that you were here. What a crowd she has! Did you see Lord
Brock?"
"I did not observe him."
"Or Lord De Terrier? I saw them both in the centre room."
"Lord De Terrier did me the honour of shaking hands with me as I
passed through."
"I never saw such a mixture of people. There is Mrs. Proudie going
out of her mind because you are all going to dance."
"The Miss Proudies dance," said Griselda Grantly.
"But not at conversaziones. You don't see the difference. And I saw
Spermoil there, looking as pleased as Punch. He had quite a circle of
his own round him, and was chattering away as though he were quite
accustomed to the wickedness of the world."
"There certainly are people here whom one would not have wished to
meet, had one thought of it," said Lady Lufton, mindful of her late
engagement.
"But it must be all right, for I walked up the stairs with the
archdeacon.
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