That the coming man should make his court to her, she saw as a natural and agreeable thing; that he should recognise her intellectual powers, and submit to her personal charm, was only what she had hoped and expected from the first.

After their conversation in the supper-room, she counted him a conquest, and looked forward with no little interest to the development of this romance.

Its sudden termination astonished and mortified her.

Had Lashmar turned away to make some brilliant alliance, her pique would have endured only for a moment; Lord Dymchurch's approach would have more than compensated the commoner's retirement.
But that she should merely have amused his idle moments, whilst his serious thoughts were fixed on Constance Bride, was an injury not easy to pardon.

For she disliked Miss Bride, and she knew the sentiment was mutual.
Seeing the situation in the new light shed by Mrs.Toplady's ingenious conjectures, her sense of injury was mitigated; the indignant feeling that remained she directed chiefly against Lady Ogram, who seemed inclined to dispose of her in such a summary way.