Lady Ann

“ There is always a plain tale to put her down and always the friend of proved discretion is left with the impression that the tale is the invention of malice; at least we suppose she must be, for Lady Ann is allowed by people to whom she has done one injury to remain in a position to do them another. ”

“ There was more dancing and singing up stairs, more wit and conversation below; all were at liberty, and all stayed late; and all talked so much of the happiness they had enjoyed, that Lady Anne felt herself exceedingly tempted to give another party before the season finally closed. She had been even bespattered with praise, so abundantly had it been showered upon her; and, like Lord Byron, she "awoke and found herself famous," not like him, for doing great things, but little ones ”

“ One moment of expression like that is worth a life-time of the symmetrical prettiness which ordinary men admire in common-place women. With the conviction of his continued affection Lady Jane recovered much of her composure. Her manner, unconsciously perhaps to herself, became gentle, pleading, almost tender. If she wept, smiles brightened through her tears. Now and then her voice was almost playful, and once as she lifted her eyes to his, there was a faint reflection of her mood upon Lord Clare’s face. ”

“ CHAPTER VI.
"How pretty Louisa is looking this morning!" said Lady Anne; "what a dreadful waste, with nobody in town."
"What a pity," replied Isabella, "that people cannot have a savings-bank of good looks—hair, eyes, and skin to be put out at interest till wanted!"
"You would not trouble it much, child," returned Lady Anne, pettishly; "you know you are the plain one of the family. I do not know what I shall do with you when you come out; you will have no beauty but that of youth." ”

“ The two younger girls were in the rumble, the French maid and page on the coachbox, and Lady Anne and her three eldest daughters inside, to say nothing of imperials, boxes, parcels, and last, but not least, the dog, the only over-petted and over-fed thing in his mistress's possession.
"Never were any girls so stupid as you are," exclaimed Lady Anne, when, after many vain attempts at conversation, her daughters had sunk into silence. "Mary never has any thing to say; and I think you are all growing like her. Do take care, Louisa; if you lean back, you will spoil your bonnet." ”

“ Who can describe the feelings of the Lady Anne—alone, in her chamber, looking up at the portrait of her mother, upon which she had so often gazed with delight and reverence! "Is it possible?" said she to herself, "can this be she, of whom I have read such dreadful things? Have all my young and happy days been but a dream, from which I wake at last? Is not this dreadful certainty still as a hideous dream to me?"
She had another cause of bitter grief. She loved the young and noble-minded Lord Russell, the Earl of Bedford's eldest son; and she had heard him vow affection and faithfulness to her. ”

“ Lady Anne absolutely started with pleased surprise as she threw her thin arms around her and exclaimed—"Well! I never expected to see my little brown girl grown into so fine a woman; but what a pity it is to receive you thus en déshabille! Dress must become you much, Isabella." ”

“ Of late, whenever Lady Anne had either talked or thought beyond her strength, exhausted nature found refuge in short but refreshing snatches of sleep, and she was thus situated when Georgiana sought to bid her farewell, which she could only do by touching her thin, withered fingers with her lips, affording a strong contrast to the blighted yet still fine outline of her mother's wasted features. ”

“ Lady Anne could calmly contemplate the death of a daughter, provided she died a marchioness: we trust our readers see the difference between the worldly and the religious mother—the cold-hearted and the enthusiastic, but virtuous and upright, woman, although both were wrong, and both inflicted misery on their respective victims, alike unjustifiable in the eye of reason, or the contemplation of Christianity. ”

“ Though the earl did not suspect his lady of being the adept she was, yet he had long known she disliked his sister, which he accounted for from the circumstance of Lady Anne's superior personal attraction; the countess, though with a pretty face and at least ten years younger, cutting comparatively no figure when placed beside the tall and graceful form of Lady Anne, whose beautiful bust and slender waist never failed to attract admiration. ”

“ Dear Sir Julien, rub your eyes! I want you to see—all the way to the skies. Lady Anne is a sweet girl who will look nice at the head of any one's table. She will read the papers and take an intelligent interest in her husband's work, and ask him trite and obvious questions to prove that she understands all about it. She will give you phenacetin when you have a headache, she will fill your house with the right sort of people. She will be very amiable and very satisfied. She'll always read the debates and she'll sit up for you at night in a pretty dressing-gown. ”

“ As the Lady Anne grew up to womanhood, the sweetness of her disposition and manners began to be acknowledged by those, who had seen without astonishment her extraordinary beauty; and many persons of distinction, who would hold no kind of fellowship with the Lord Somerset, sought the acquaintance of his innocent daughter for her own sake.
The most beloved friend of the Lady Anne was the Lady Ellinor G——, the eldest daughter of the Earl of G——: and with her, Lady Anne often passed several months in the year. A large party of young ladies were assembled at G—— Castle ”

“ A whole string of great names rose, uncalled for, to Lady Anne's mind of her own compeers, whose lives are daily passing in the practice of every virtuous action and elegant occupation suitable to their high station, their talents, and attainments ”

“ What do you say, dear Isabella, to my having actually picked up another ci-devant lover of one of your sisters, poor little Georgiana, who is at present wearing the willow, as well as this fine young man, who is really the beau ideal of a sailor-gentleman, because Lady Anne must have lords at least for the rest of her daughters? ”

“ Well, I am glad she is coming; she is a fine girl, and will tell now. I wish we could secure his sister, who is precisely the kind of woman for a bazaar; we must have attraction—a well furnished stand is a good thing, but a beautiful and fashionable saleswoman still better."
"Your grace is so far happy, that all the stands under your auspices will be occupied by elegant women," said the Hon. Mrs. Tresham.
"I can answer for Lady Penrhyn," said Lady Anne.
"Then I will contrive one stand more for her, and you, and your daughters; meantime, I trust, Lady Anne, you are busy for us?" ”

“ During the very bad weather, when persons could neither ride nor walk, the duchess, either by beautiful notes (to be kept as heirlooms) or by calls at the nearest houses, got people to work for the bazaar, and kept Lady Anne always in sight and in employment, of one kind or other, as she had superior taste, and could tell how many things ought to be done, though she did them no longer ”

“ Lady Anne early in life studied how best despotic power could be exercised on a small scale; like Henry VII.,** See Bacon's Life of that monarch.>/ref> she preferred the homage exacted by respect and fear, to that which is offered by love, and she had firmly abided by her choice, being neither drawn aside by a husband whom any other woman would have found irresistibly seducing, nor by five sweet children, all calculated to win a mother's heart to weakness, and all imbued remarkably with domestic attachments. ”

“ Those must have been pleasant sittings which gave the veteran portrait painter Miss Anne for a subject. [17] Plainly there was a perfect sympathy between sitter and painter. The smile the lady turns towards the easel is as naïve as that of Miss Bowles herself. She watches his clever work with an artist's delight, and with the simple spirit of a child.
[17] When her father was created an earl in 1795, she became Lady Anne.
Nothing could be more distasteful to such a character than the affected pose of a woman of fashion. ”

“ Palmer had known what it was to lose life's dearest connexion; and the soft cadence with which Lady Anne alluded to her feelings as a widow awakened all the sympathy of his generous nature, and he eagerly cried out,
"You will do very well, my lady, very well indeed. I will send you in a couple of dozen of capital sherry, fit for the dons, and some hermitage, by no means to be sneezed at; any thing will do for dancing misses and masters; but, in every party, there are some people who know what's what." ”

“ Whatever might be the talents of the party, it is certain Lady Anne was always received with the most flattering distinction, few amongst the gifted throng had so learned to estimate their own pretensions, as to be critically inclined towards so fine a woman, who was the daughter of an earl. ”

“ Even among the most experienced and discriminating of men, she rarely allowed the élite of the high-born or distinguished to escape her temporary allurements, so that she was the absolute horror, alike of the designing, whose baits she rendered nugatory, and the innocent attached ones, whose expectations she blighted, and whose young hearts were lacerated by the perfidy of those whom she misled. Of course she was a dangerous woman, from whom many would shrink, and certainly not one to whom Lady Anne could for a moment commit her daughters, either on the score of friendship, or example. ”

“ Penrhyn, aware that she should not see Helen again until that hour when she would be called in the morning, and which in her kindness she would make a late one.
Our evils are not unfrequently attended with good. Louisa did not appear to need the lesson, for she was a happy wife, and an excellent one; but the close observation of what her sisters had to go through at this time (when Lady Anne's ambition and exhilaration caused her to appear to strangers, despite her sad state, a most charming person) made her own home appear a perfect paradise, and her husband a beneficent angel. ”

“ Every face was dressed in smiles—every eye shot bright glances around, either in search of a customer or an admirer, an old friend or a new lover. Happily the sunshine, which of late had been very scarce, shone out most invitingly, and the room soon became full; but it was rather with starers and loungers than purchasers; and the duchess shook her head very knowingly to Lady Anne, who was her opposite neighbour. Lady Penrhyn had desired to be placed near the door, as she said she was one of those people who could not live without air ”

“ Before the guests had commenced to arrive in any numbers, Lady Hope came floating into the state drawing-room, with a noble cactus flower sweeping backwards from the left side of her head, and resting upon the massive braids of her hair, which curved upwards like a helmet, from her neck almost to the forehead. Chains of large rubies encircled her neck and arms, harmonizing with the cactus blossom, but forming a bold contrast to the amber silk of her dress, which swept far back upon the polished floor, and took the light as birds of Paradise fling off sunshine from their plumage. ”

“ Lady Anne, with whom long knowledge of the world often supplied the place of sense, was too guarded to admit her disappointment, and calmly replied, "Mr. Glentworth is only a very old friend of the family."
"Not so very old," said Lady Penrhyn, with a malicious smile; "I should rather say much too young to be trusted with so many girls—you will have them all in love with him."
"I trust," answered Lady Anne, with a quiet air of security, "that my girls have been too well brought up to think of such nonsense as falling in love." ”

“ She knew more; for she was well aware that the articles in question were done by Helen and no other of the five sisters, since the talent was only possessed by her and Mary in any remarkable degree: she had her own suspicions, from various trifling circumstances, but she chose to stifle them, being neither inclined to flatter Lady Anne nor foretel good fortune to her daughters, and very much inclined to thaw the frost of that cold politeness which marked the manners of Lord Meersbrook whenever she accosted him, which was more frequently than he desired. ”

“ Georgiana, in a few days, had the comfort of seeing Louisa the mother of a sweet child; Lady Anne, in affectionate attendance upon her; and her own invaluable letter, the companion of her journey, which Mr. Penrhyn partook, until she was placed in her uncle's carriage, which was sent to meet her. Lady Anne had, therefore, the satisfaction of proceeding to Brighton unencumbered by a single daughter, immediately after she had received the good news she most desired, that Mrs. Glentworth had presented her husband with a young Roman as his heir. ”

“ The result was, a determination, on the part of both these worthies, to be "blarneyed by my Lady Anne no longer, since a woman who goes to outshine her betters, and to give in charity what she owes in justice, cannot be any great shakes, though she might be a born lady." ”

“ Mrs. Penrhyn rose in great confusion, saying, "We shall be too much for mamma, indeed we shall, Count;" and taking Lady Anne's hand, she, with great respect, stooped to kiss it, and then hurried out of the room, taking the Count with her the moment he had performed the same devoir.
"How glad I am they are gone!" said Lady Anne to Helen, as she returned into the room. "Louisa is so healthy, she is quite vulgar-looking! By the way, I have never seen her child; remember that it is brought to me early in the morning. The Count is unquestionably become a Methodist, or something of that kind. ”