The
Marquis and the Master of Ravenswood were thus left to communicate to
each other their remarks upon the reception which they had met with,
while Lady Ashton led the way, and her lord followed somewhat like a
condemned criminal, to her ladyship's dressing-room.
So soon as the spouses had both entered, her ladyship gave way to that
fierce audacity of temper which she had with difficulty suppressed, out
of respect to appearances. She shut the door behind the alarmed Lord
Keeper, took the key out of the spring-lock, and with a countenance
which years had not bereft of its haughty charms, and eyes which spoke
at once resolution and resentment, she addressed her astounded husband
in these words: "My lord, I am not greatly surprised at the connexions
you have been pleased to form during my absence, they are entirely in
conformity with your birth and breeding; and if I did expect anything
else, I heartily own my error, and that I merit, by having done so, the
disappointment you had prepared for me."
"My dear Lady Ashton--my dear Eleanor [Margaret]," said the Lord Keeper,
"listen to reason for a moment, and I will convince you I have acted
with all the regard due to the dignity, as well as the interest, of my
family.
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