She listened without objection or comment when Ned, in confidential
moods, forced his purposes upon her attention.
"We'll make 'em stare, my dear," said he. "We'll make 'em open their
eyes a bit; just you wait! We'll find lodgings somewhere in the thick
of the town, and I'll take you to the theatres, and to walk in St.
James Park, and to the public assemblies, and wherever you're sure to
be seen. I wish 'twere Summer; then there'd be Vauxhall and Ranelagh,
and all that. 'Tis a bad time of year in London now; but we'll do our
best. There'll be young sparks of quality enough, to ask each other
who that goddess is, and that Venus, and that angel, and all that kind
of thing; and they'll be mad to make your acquaintance. They'll take
note of me, and when they see me at the coffee-houses and faro-tables,
they'll fall over one another in the rush to know me, and to be my
friends. And I'll pick out the best, and honour 'em with invitations
to call at our lodgings, and there'll be my pretty sister to mix a
punch for us, or pour out tea for us; and once we let 'em see we're as
good quality as any of 'em, and won't stand any damn' nonsense,' why,
you leave it to brother Ned to land a fat fish, that's all!"
She had a fear that his operations might at length become offensive to
her taste, might stray from the line of her own ambitions; but she saw
good reason to await developments in silence; and to postpone
deviating from Ned's wishes, until they should cease to forward hers.
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