Hence she was neither afraid nor ashamed to
acknowledge a correspondence she knew to be her highest distinction.
But had the frank and innocent Mary exhibited half the like
attentions which she paid to these men in one hour to the common
class of young men through the course of a month, they would have
declared that the poor girl was over head and ears in love with them,
and have pitied what they would have justly denominated her folly.
Foolish must that woman be who would sacrifice the most precious gift
in her possession--her heart--to the superficial graces or empty
blandishments of a self-idolized coxcomb!
Such a being was not Mary Beaufort; and on these principles she
contemplated the extraordinary fine qualities she saw in the exiled
Thaddeus with an interest honorable to her penetration and her heart.
When Miss Egerton called with Lady Sara Ross to take Miss Beaufort to
the Haymarket, Mary was not displeased at seeing Mr. Constantine step
out of the carnage to hand her in. During their drive, Miss Egerton
informed her that Lady Tinemouth had been suddenly seized with a
headache, but that Lady Sara had kindly undertaken to be their
chaperon, and had promised to return with them to sup in Grosvenor
Place.
Lady Sara had never seen Mary, though she had frequently heard of her
beauty and vast fortune. This last qualification her ladyship hoped
might have given an unmerited _?clat_ to the first; therefore
when she saw in Miss Beaufort the most beautiful creature she had
ever beheld, nothing could equal her surprise and vexation.
Pages:
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391