It might be necessary for him, as a married man, to give up such acquaintances as the de Courcys, but he should like, if possible, to maintain a friendship with Lady Alexandrina.

What a friend Lady Alexandrina would be for Lily, if any such friendship were only possible! What an advantage would such an alliance confer upon that dear little girl;--for, after all, though the dear little girl's attractions were very great, he could not but admit to himself that she wanted a something,--a way of holding herself and of speaking, which some people call style.

Lily might certainly learn a great deal from Lady Alexandrina; and it was this conviction, no doubt, which made him so sedulous in pleasing that lady on the present occasion.
And she, as it seemed, was well inclined to be pleased.

She said no word to him during dinner about Lily; and yet she spoke about the Dales, and about Allington, showing that she knew in what quarters he had been staying, and then she alluded to their last parties in London,--those occasions on which, as Crosbie now remembered, the intercourse between them had almost been tender.

It was manifest to him that at any rate she did not wish to quarrel with him.