"Indeed! and may I make so bold as to ask why?"

"Simply, sir, that a gentleman so worldly-wise as yourself must always be supposed to calculate eventualities, and not incur, willingly at least, those he has no mind for. To be plain, sir, I 'm at a loss to understand how one not fond of peril should hazard the chance of being thrown out of a window,--don't start, I 'm only a woman, and cannot do it, nor, though I have rung for the servant, am I going to order _him_.

For this time it shall be the door." And, rising proudly, she walked toward the window; but ere she reached it, Spicer was gone.

"What's become of Spicer, Lizzy?" said Beecher, indolently, as his eyes traversed the room in search of him.

"He has taken his leave," said she, in a voice as careless.

"He's tiresome, I think," yawned he; "at least, I find him so."

She made no reply, but sat down to compose her thoughts, somewhat ruffled by the late scene.

"Ain't it time to order the carriage? I told Georgy we'd come early,"

added he, after a pause.

"I almost think I'll not go to-night," said she, in a low voice.

"Not go! You don't mean that when my sister-in-law sends you a message to come and see her that you 'll refuse!" cried he, in a mixture of anger and astonishment.

"I'm afraid I could be guilty of so great an enormity," said she, smiling superciliously.

"It's exactly the word for it, whatever you may think," said he, doggedly. "All I can say is, that you don't know Georgina, or you'd never have dreamt of it."

"In that case it is better I _should_ know her; so I'll get my bonnet and shawl at once."

She was back in the room in a moment, and they set out for the Palazzo Gondi.

What would not Beecher have given, as they drove along, for courage to counsel and advise her,--to admonish as to this, and caution as to that?

And yet he did not dare to utter a word, and she was as silent.

It would not be very easy to say exactly what sort of person Lady Georgina expected in her sister-in-law; indeed, she had pictured her in so many shapes to herself that there was not an incongruity omitted in the composition, and she fancied her bold, daring, timid, awkward, impertinent, and shy alternately, and, in this conflict of anticipation, it was that Lizzy entered. So utterly overcome was Lady Georgina by astonishment, that she actually advanced to meet her in some confusion, and then, taking her hand, led her to a seat on the sofa beside her.

[Illustration: 372]

While the ordinary interchange of commonplaces went on,--and nothing could be more ordinary or commonplace than the words of their greeting,--each calmly surveyed the other. What thoughts passed in their minds, what inferences were drawn, and what conclusions formed in this moment, it is not for me to guess. To women alone pertains that marvellous freemasonry that scans character at a glance, and investigates the sincerity of a disposition and the value of a lace flounce with the same practised facility. If Lady Georgina was astonished by the striking beauty of her sister-in-law, she was amazed still more by her manner and her tone. Where could she have learned that graceful repose,--that simplicity, which is the very highest art? Where and how had she caught up that gentle quietude which breathes like a balmy odor over the well-bred world? How had she acquired that subtlety by which wit is made to sparkle and never to startle; and what training had told her how to weave through all she said the flattery of a wish to please?

Woman of the world as she was, Lady Lackington had seen no such marvel as this. It was no detraction from its merit that it might be all acting, for it was still "high art." Not a fault could she detect in look, gesture, or tone, and yet all seemed as easy and unstudied as possible. Her Ladyship knew well that the practice of society confers all these advantages; but here was one who had never mixed with the world, who, by her own confession, "knew no one," and yet was a mistress of every art that rules society.

Lady Georgina had yet to learn that there are instincts stronger than all experience, and that, in the common intercourse of life, Tact is Genius.

Though Lizzy was far more deeply versed in every theme on which it was her Ladyship's pleasure to talk than herself,--though she knew more of painting, of music, and of literature, than the Viscountess, she still seemed like one gleaning impressions as they conversed, and at each moment acquiring nearer and clearer views; and yet even this flattery was so nicely modulated that it escaped detection.

There was a mystery in the case her Ladyship determined to fathom. "No woman of her class," as she phrased it, could have been thus trained without some specific object. The stage had latterly been used as a sort of show mart where young girls display their attractive graces, at times with immense success. Could this have been the goal for which she had been destined? She adroitly turned the conversation to that topic, but Lizzy's answers soon negatived the suspicion. Governesses, too, were all-accomplished in these days; but here there was less of acquirement exhibited than of all the little arts and devices of society.

"Is my trial nearly over?" whispered Lizzy in Beecher's ear as he passed beside her chair. "I'd rather hear a verdict of Guilty at once than to submit to further examining."

A look of caution, most imploringly given, was all his reply.

Though Lady Lackington had neither heard question nor answer, her quick glance had penetrated something like a meaning in them, and her lip curled impatiently as she said to Beecher, "Have you spoke to Lady Lackington of our plans for her,--I mean during your absence?"

He muttered a sullen "No, not yet," and turned away.

"It was an arrangement that will, I hope, meet your approval," said Lady Georgina, half coldly, "since Beecher must go over to England for some weeks; and as you could not with either comfort or propriety remain alone in your hotel, our plan was that you should come here."

Lizzy merely turned her eyes on Beecher, but there was that in their expression that plainly said, "Is this _your_ resolve?" He only moved away, and did not speak.

"Not but if any of your own family," continued Lady Lackington, "could come out here, and that you might prefer _their_ company,--that would be an arrangement equally satisfactory. Is such an event likely?"

"Nothing less so, my Lady," said Lizzy. "My father has affairs of urgency to treat at this moment."

"Oh, I did not exactly allude to your father,--you might have sisters."

"I have none."

"An aunt, perhaps?"

"I never heard of one."

"Lizzy, you are aware, Georgina," broke in Beecher, whose voice trembled at every word, "was brought up abroad,--she never saw any of her family."

"How strange! I might even say, how unfortunate!" sighed her Ladyship, superciliously.

"Stranger, and more unfortunate still, your Ladyship would perhaps say, if I were to tell you that I never so much as heard of them."

"I am not certainly prepared to say that the circumstance is one to be boastful of," said Lady Lackington, who resented the look of haughty defiance of the other.

"I assure your Ladyship that you are mistaken in attributing to me such a sentiment. I have nothing of which to be boastful."

"Your present position, Lady Lackington, might inspire a very natural degree of pride."

"It has not done so yet, my Lady. My experience of the elevated class to which I have been raised has been too brief to impress me; a wider knowledge will probably supply this void."

"And yet," said Lady Georgina, sarcastically, "it is something,--the change from Miss Davis to the Viscountess Lackington."

"When that change becomes more real, more actual, my Lady," said Lizzy, boldly, "it will, assuredly, bear its fruits; when, in being reminded of what I was and whence I came, I can only detect the envious malevolence that would taunt me with what is no fault of mine, but a mere accident of fortune,--when I hear these things with calm composure, and in my rank as a peeress feel the equal of those who would disparage me,--then, indeed, I may be proud."

"Such a day may never come," said Lady Georgina, coldly.

"Very possibly, my Lady. It has cost me no effort to win this station you seem to prize so highly; it will not exact one to forego all its great advantages."

"What a young lady to be so old a philosopher! I 'm sure Lord Lackington never so much as suspected the wisdom he acquired in his wife. It may, however, be a family trait."

"My father was so far wise, my Lady, that he warned me of the reception that awaited me in my new station; but, in his ignorance of that great world, he gave me, rather, to believe that I should meet insinuated slights and covert impertinences than open insults. Perhaps I owe it to my vulgar origin that I really like the last the best; at least, they show me that my enemies are not formidable."

"Your remarks have convinced me that it would be quite superfluous in me to offer my protection to a lady so conversant with life and the world."

"They will, at least, serve to show your Ladyship that I would not have accepted the protection."

"But, Lizzy dearest, you don't know what you are saying. Lady Georgina can establish your position in society as none other can."