For the present, Miss Isabella Current need only be chronicled among the visitors--a sprightly maid fifty years old, without a wrinkle to show for it--the Aunt Bel of fifty houses where there were young women and little boys.

Aunt Bel had quick wit and capital anecdotes, and tripped them out aptly on a sparkling tongue with exquisite instinct for climax and when to strike for a laugh.

No sooner had she entered the hall than she announced the proximate arrival of the Duke of Belfield at her heels, and it was known that his Grace was as sure to follow as her little dog, who was far better paid for his devotion.
The dinners at Beckley Court had hitherto been rather languid to those who were not intriguing or mixing young love with the repast.

Miss Current was an admirable neutral, sent, as the Countess fervently believed, by Providence.

Till now the Countess had drawn upon her own resources to amuse the company, and she had been obliged to restrain herself from doing it with that unctuous feeling for rank which warmed her Portuguese sketches in low society and among her sisters.