‘No; promises are dangerous things to ask or
to give,’ said Grace. ’Men and naughty
children never make promises, especially promises to
be good, without longing to break them the next minute.’
’Well, at least, child, persuade him, I charge
you, to make my gala go off well. That’s
the first thing we ought to think of now. Ring
the bell! And all heads and hands I put in requisition
for the gala.’
The opening of her gala, the display of her splendid
reception-rooms, the Turkish tent, the Alhambra, the
pagoda, formed a proud moment to Lady Clonbrony.
Much did she enjoy, and much too naturally, notwithstanding
all her efforts to be stiff and stately, much too
naturally did she show her enjoyment of the surprise
excited in some and affected by others on their first
entrance.
One young, very young lady expressed her astonishment
so audibly as to attract the notice of all the bystanders.
Lady Clonbrony, delighted, seized both her hands,
shook them, and laughed heartily; then, as the young
lady with her party passed on, her ladyship recovered
herself, drew up her head, and said to the company
near her—
’Poor thing! I hope I covered her little
naivete properly? How new she must
be!’
Then, with well-practised dignity, and half-subdued
self-complacency of aspect, her ladyship went gliding
about—most importantly busy, introducing
my lady this to the sphynx candelabra, and my
lady that to the Trebisond trellice; placing
some delightfully for the perspective of the Alhambra;
establishing others quite to her satisfaction on seraglio
ottomans; and honouring others with a seat under the
statira, canopy. Receiving and answering compliments
from successive crowds of select friends, imagining
herself the mirror of fashion, and the admiration of
the whole world, Lady Clonbrony was, for her hour,
as happy certainly as ever woman was in similar circumstances.
Her son looked at her, and wished that this happiness
could last. Naturally inclined to sympathy, Lord
Colambre reproached himself for not feeling as gay
at this instant as the occasion required. But
the festive scene, the blazing lights, the ‘universal
hubbub,’ failed to raise his spirits. As
a dead weight upon them hung the remembrance of Mordicai’s
denunciations; and, through the midst of this Eastern
magnificence, this unbounded profusion, he thought
he saw future domestic misery and ruin to those he
loved best in the world.
The only object present on which his eye rested with
pleasure was Grace Nugent. Beautiful—in
elegant and dignified simplicity—thoughtless
of herself—yet with a look of thought, and
with an air of melancholy, which accorded exactly
with his own feelings, and which he believed to arise
from the same reflections that had passed in his own
mind.
‘Miss Broadhurst, Colambre! all the Broadhursts!’
said his mother, wakening him, as she passed by, to
receive them as they entered. Miss Broadhurst
appeared, plainly dressed—plainly, even
to singularity—without any diamonds or
ornament.
