"
Lady Tinemouth thought this would be a fair opportunity to show one
of the theatres to her young friend, without involving him in expense
or obligation, and accordingly she gave her consent.
"Do you intend to favor us with your company, Lady Sara?" asked the
countess, with a hope that she might refuse.
Lady Sara, who had been standing silently at the window, rather
proudly answered--
"Yes, madam, if you will honor me with your protection."
Lady Tinemouth was the only one present who understood the resentment
which these words conveyed; and, almost believing that she had gone
too far, by implying suspicion, she approached her with a pleading
anxiety of countenance. "Then, Lady Sara, perhaps you will dine with
me? I mean to call on Miss Dorothy Somerset, and would invite her to
be of the party."
Lady Sara curtseyed her acceptance of the invitation, and, smiling,
appeared to think no more of the matter. But she neither forgot it
nor found herself able to forgive Lady Tinemouth for having betrayed
her into a confidence which her own turbulent passions had made but
too easy. She had listened unwillingly to the reasonable declaration
of the countess, that her only way to retreat from an error which
threatened criminality was to avoid the object.
"When a married woman," observed her ladyship, in that confidential
conference, "is so unhappy as to love any man besides her husband,
her only safety rests in the resolution to quit his society, and to
banish his image whenever it obtrudes.
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