Part 15 (2/2)
The d.u.c.h.ess was a little flushed; she looked all about the room, while her daughter turned to Bessie. ”My brother told us you were wonderfully clever,” said Lady Pimlico.
”He should have said my sister,” Bessie answered--”when she says such things as that.”
”Shall you be long at Branches?” the d.u.c.h.ess asked, abruptly, of the young girl.
”Lord Lambeth has asked us for three days,” said Bessie.
”I shall go,” the d.u.c.h.ess declared, ”and my daughter, too.”
”That will be charming!” Bessie rejoined.
”Delightful!” murmured Mrs. Westgate.
”I shall expect to see a great deal of you,” the d.u.c.h.ess continued.
”When I go to Branches I monopolize my son's guests.”
”They must be most happy,” said Mrs. Westgate very graciously.
”I want immensely to see it--to see the castle,” said Bessie to the d.u.c.h.ess. ”I have never seen one--in England, at least; and you know we have none in America.”
”Ah, you are fond of castles?” inquired her Grace.
”Immensely!” replied the young girl. ”It has been the dream of my life to live in one.”
The d.u.c.h.ess looked at her a moment, as if she hardly knew how to take this a.s.surance, which, from her Grace's point of view, was either very artless or very audacious. ”Well,” she said, rising, ”I will show you Branches myself.” And upon this the two great ladies took their departure.
”What did they mean by it?” asked Mrs. Westgate, when they were gone.
”They meant to be polite,” said Bessie, ”because we are going to meet them.”
”It is too late to be polite,” Mrs. Westgate replied almost grimly.
”They meant to overawe us by their fine manners and their grandeur, and to make you LACHER PRISE.”
”LACHER PRISE? What strange things you say!” murmured Bessie Alden.
”They meant to snub us, so that we shouldn't dare to go to Branches,”
Mrs. Westgate continued.
”On the contrary,” said Bessie, ”the d.u.c.h.ess offered to show me the place herself.”
”Yes, you may depend upon it she won't let you out of her sight. She will show you the place from morning till night.”
”You have a theory for everything,” said Bessie.
”And you apparently have none for anything.”
”I saw no attempt to 'overawe' us,” said the young girl. ”Their manners were not fine.”
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