She had been charmingly frank and fair
about the question of the names, when it first arose.
The usage had latterly come to be, she explained,
for a widow bearing even a courtesy title derived from
her late husband, to retain it on marrying again.
It was always the easiest course to fall in with usage,
but if he had any feelings on the subject, and preferred
to have her insist on being called Mrs. Thorpe,
she would meet his wishes with entire willingness.
It had seemed to him, as to her, that it was wisest
to allow usage to settle the matter. Some months after
their marriage there appeared in the papers what purported
to be an authoritative announcement that the Queen objected
to the practice among ladies who married a second time,
of retaining titles acquired by the earlier marriages,
and that the lists of precedency at Buckingham Palace would
henceforth take this into account. Lady Cressage showed this
to her husband, and talked again with candour on the subject.
She said she had always rather regretted the decision
they originally came to, and even now could wish that it
might be altered, but that to effect a change in the face
of this newspaper paragraph would seem servile--and in this
as in most other things he agreed with her. As she said,
they wanted nothing of Buckingham Palace.
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