'
'Depend upon it she was waiting for that,' said Gilbert.
I'm sure I wish I had known it,' said Albinia, not in the most
judicious manner. 'Half-past eleven!'
'Aunt Maria says she can't think how you can find time for church
when you can't see visitors in the morning,' said Lucy. 'And oh!
dear mamma, grandmamma says gravy soup was enough to throw Gilbert
into a fever.'
'At any rate, it did not,' said Albinia.
'Oh! and, dear mamma, Mrs. Osborn is so hurt that you called on Mrs.
Dusautoy before returning her visit; and Aunt Maria says if you don't
call to-day you will never get over it, and she says that--'
'What business has Mrs. Osborn to ask whom I called on?' exclaimed
Albinia, impatiently.
'Because Mrs. Osborn is the leading lady in the town,' said Lucy.
'She told Miss Goldsmith that she had no notion of not being
respected.'
'And she can't bear the Dusautoys. She left off subscribing to
anything when they came; and he behaved very ill to the Admiral and
everybody at a vestry-meeting.'
'I shall ask your papa before I am in any hurry to call on the
Osborns!' cried Albinia. 'I have no desire to be intimate with
people who treat their clergyman in that way.'
'But Mrs. Osborn is quite the leader!' exclaimed Lucy. They keep the
best society here. So many families in the county come and call on
them.'
'Very likely--'
'Ah! Mrs. Osborn told Aunt Maria that as the Nugents called on you,
and you had such connexions, she supposed you would be high.
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