‘Good-bye, my dear.  If you will quarrel, it isn’t my doing.’  Then Sir Damask led Miss Longestaffe out, and put her into Madame Melmotte’s carriage.  ‘It’s the most absurd thing I ever knew in my life,’ said the wife as soon as her husband had returned to her.  ’She hasn’t been able to bear to remain down in the country for one season, when all the world knows that her father can’t afford to have a house for them in town.  Then she condescends to come and stay with these abominations and pretends to feel surprised that her old friends don’t run after her.  She is old enough to have known better.’

‘I suppose she likes parties,’ said Sir Damask.

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