You will probably hear her make plans for drives, rides, even long walks about the country, and something more than mere good breeding must rule your features as you listen.

Occasionally her speech is indistinct; you must manage never to miss a word she says.

She is slightly--very slightly--deaf; you must speak in your natural voice, yet never oblige her to be in doubt as to what you say.

She likes a respectful manner, but if it is overdone the indiscretion soon receives a startling reproof.

Be as easy as you like in her presence provided that your ease is natural; if it strikes Lady Ogram as self-assertion--beware the lash! From time to time she will permit herself a phrase or an exclamation which reminds one that her birth was not precisely aristocratic; but don't imagine that anyone else is allowed to use a too racy vernacular; you must guard your expressions, and the choicer they are the better she is pleased.
"As you may wish to speak of polities, I will tell you that, until a year or two ago, Lady Ogram was a strong Conservative; she is now on the Liberal side, perhaps for the simple reason that she has quarrelled with the Conservative member of Hollingford, Mr.Robb.I need not go into the details of the affair; sufficient that the name of Robb excites her fury, and that it is better to say nothing about the man at all unless you know something distinctly to his disadvantage--and, in _that_ case, you must take your chance of being dealt with as a calumniator or a sycophant; all depends on Lady Ogram's mood of the moment.