The countess
not only thanked him for such attention, but, constrained by a
civility which at that instant she could have wished not to have been
necessary, asked him to walk forward with her to the abbey, and
partake of some refreshment.
"But," added she, "though I perfectly recollect having seen another
gentleman in Lady Shafto's room besides Doctor Denton, I have not the
honor of knowing your name."
"It is Somerset," returned Pembroke; "I am the son of that Lady
Somerset, who, during the last year of her life, had the happiness of
being intimate with your ladyship."
Lady Tinemouth expressed her pleasure at this meeting; and turning to
the gentleman who was walking in silence by her side, said, "Mr.
Constantine, allow me to introduce to you the cousin of the amiable
Miss Beaufort."
Thaddeus, who had too well recognized the voice of his false friend
in the first accents he addressed to the countess, with a swelling
heart bent his head to the cold salutation of Somerset. Hearing that
her ladyship's companion was the same Constantine whom he had
liberated from prison, Pembroke was stimulated with a desire to take
the perhaps favorable occasion to unmask his double villany to Lady
Tinemouth; and conceiving a curiosity to see the man whose person and
meretricious qualities had blinded the judgment of his aunt and
cousin, he readily obeyed the second invitation of the countess, and
consented to go home and sup with her.
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