The Young Duchess; or, Memoirs of a Lady of Quality — page 153: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

— — . THE YOUNG DUCHESS: OR, MEMOIRS OF A LADY OF QUALITY. peared not to notice the behaviour of the brilliant Duchess: but he at once glided into conversation with the Countess of Carshalton, the Countess of Belgrave, and two or three other ladies to whom he was successively introduced. At the expiration of a little while, the Count sauntered away from the group with whom he had been thus conversing, and whom he had impressed with the elegance of his manners and the fascinations of his powers of discourse. On proceeding into another room, a glance showed him the Duchess of Ardleigh seated a little apart from the rest; for just at that moment three or four ladies and gentlemen with whom she had been talking, moved away into the ball-room. The Count advanced up to the Duchess—bowed with an air that was most unexceptionably well bred—and lounging with fashionable ease over the back of a chair near her, he said, ‘‘ Your Grace does not dance ?” “‘ Yes — sometimes —but not this evening:” and the Duchess of Ardleigh’s manner was cold and distant—as contemptuous and repelling in- deed as her sense of good-breeding could allow it to be. “T am glad to hear that your Grace dances occasionally,” resumed the Count, with the most perfect self-possession ; ‘‘ as I shall have the honour of soliciting your hand for the next quadrille.” The Duchess drew herself up: her very air was as much as to proclaim with an indignant eloquence, ‘This is an insolence on your part after the unmistakable coldness which I have shown towards you!”—but: though her look ex- pressed this much, she simply said im words, “I beg, sir, to decline the honour.” “Perhaps your Grace is afraid to trust your- self with a stranger so little kriown as I,” said the Count; “and yet I will conduct your ladyship in safety anywhere—even though it were amidst the mazes of the grounds at Thornbury, and with the danger of falling into the tank of ornamental water.” The Duchess started as if a serpent had stung her; and she flung her searching looks upon Mandeville’s countenance: but it was serene with its well-bred smile upon it. Yet what could his words signify ? They were pure nonsense unless .they were to be regarded as fraught with a deep covert meaning. ‘ Not that I myself have ever been to Thorn- bury, nor in its neighbourhood,” continued the Count: “but I have heard a great deal of it. Indeed, as a matter of course, on arriving in the British metropolis, I could not possibly fail to hear the eulogies of the brilliunt Duchess ”— and here he bowed gracefully—“ proclaimed from every tongue. The curiosity that was excited in reference to the beautiful patrician, extended itself -_to the very places of-her abode ; and thus your Grace may comprehend how I came to acquire any knowledge of that residence which I believe is your favourite one.” ; The Duchess was now perfectly convinced that it was merely a random observation which had alarmed her for a moment ; and as she happened .to glance around the room, she beheld Lady Tod- morden evidently watching herself and the Count with a degree of unmistakable interest. It is true that her ladyship instantaneously withdrew 139 her Jooks as she caught the eye of the Duchess ; and then she affected to be gazing intently on a charming group of young ladies standing near : but the Duchess was not deceived by the subter~ fuge—and ‘she even began to suspect that it was not altogether without a hint from Lady Todmor- den’s lips that the Count had now accosted her. She therefore resumed all her cold dignity ; and she was just making a movement as if about to rise from her seat, when Mandeville said, ‘‘ May I hope for the honour of your Grace’s hand for the next quadrille ?” ““T have already given you to understand, Monsieur le Comte,’ was the patrician lady’s frigid reply, ‘that I do not intend to dance this evening.” Instead of looking at all embarrassed or discon~ certed, Count Mandeville burst into a laugh—not loud nor yet prolonged—but short, low, and har- monious, and likewise accompanied with such an air that it was impossible to take it as a piece of rudeness. Nevertheless the Duchess drew herself up as she rose from her seat ; and bending an in- dignant look upon Mandeville, she said, “ That laugh, Monsieur le Comte, was almost an in- sult !” ‘“‘ On the contrary,” replied the Count, with an easy air of confidence; ‘if your Grace knew what provoked it, you would acknowledge that it was tantamount to a compliment in respect to one of highest qualities possessed by your lady- ship.” The Duchess was bewildered by this answer, which evidently seemed to contain some hidden significancy.; and instead of moving away from the spot, she flung upon the Count’a look of per- plexed inquiry. “Twas only thinking,” resumed Mandeville, “how well a certain person deserved a drenching in a tank on a particular occasion, and what a pity it is that he escaped. But the idea on your Grace’s part was so good !—the design was so excellent !—there was such an antithetical singu- larity in your project of thus cooling the ardour which your own beauty had kindled! Ah, it ought to have succeeded'!—but your Grace’s powers of invention are not the less to be admired in consequence of the failure.” It was now impossible to doubt any longer that the Count was speaking with a purpose and a meaning ; but the Duchess was too much bewil- dered and perplexed to be enabled to determine all in a moment how she should take the matter. ‘And if I may be permitted to admire your ladyship,” continued Mandeville, “for that readi- ness of invention to which I have just alluded, I may also speak in eulogistic terms of that love of adventure which elevates your Grace to the rank of a perfect heroine. Ah! it is not every deli- eately nurtured lady who would know how to frustrate the schemes of a Gaffney, and turn the tables by giving a cheque that was never intended to be paid. Ha! ha!—how your Grace must have laughed and enjoyed the joke !” There was not the slightest tincture of sarcasm | nor irony in the Count’s tone or looks; but he went on speaking in a good-temperéed, chatty, familiar style, a8 if in reality experiencing the most genuine admiration of her Grace’s feats, and enjoying the joke respecting Gaffney as much as she herself could possibly have done at the time. COMO ———— YN Wn) Colin