"She has everything there a girl can want." "My dear woman," asked the Duchess, "has she sometimes her own mother ?" The men had now come in to place the tea-table, and it was the movements of the red-haired footman that Mrs.Brookenham followed.

"You had better ask my child herself." The Duchess was frank and jovial.

"I would, I promise you, if I could get at her! But isn't that woman always with her ?" Mrs.Brookenham smoothed the little embroidered tea-cloth.

"Do you call Tishy Grendon a woman ?" Again the Duchess had one of her pauses, which were indeed so frequent in her talks with this intimate that an auditor could sometimes wonder what particular form of relief they represented.

They might have been a habit proceeding from the fear of undue impatience.