'Maud--Maud--fickle Maud!--What, Captain Oakley already superseded! and Mr.
Carysbroke--oh! humiliation--engaged.' So I smiled on, very much vexed;
and being afraid lest I had listened with too apparent an interest to this
impostor, I sang a verse of a gay little chanson, and tried to think of
Captain Oakley, who somehow had become rather silly.
CHAPTER XLIII
_NEWS AT BARTRAM GATE_
Milly and I, thanks to our early Bartram hours, were first down next
morning; and so soon as Cousin Monica appeared we attacked her.
'So Lady Mary is the _fiancee_ of Mr. Carysbroke,' said I, very cleverly;
'and I think it was very wicked of you to try and involve me in a
flirtation with him yesterday.'
'And who told you that, pray?' asked Lady Knollys, with a pleasant little
laugh.
'Milly and I discovered it, simple as we stand here,' I answered.
'But you did not flirt with Mr. Carysbroke, Maud, did you?' she asked.
'No, certainly not; but that was not your doing, wicked woman, but my
discretion. And now that we know your secret, you must tell us all about
her, and all about him; and in the first place, what is her name--Lady Mary
what?' I demanded.
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