There is such comfort in being pandered to by a person who is not even aware that she is pandering.

She doesn't suspect that she is entitled to thanks for it." That evening Mrs.Ralph came shining to dinner in amber satin, which seemed to possess some quality of stimulating her to brilliance.

She was witty enough to collect an audience, and Lord Walderhurst was drawn within it.

This was Mrs.Ralph's evening.

When the men returned to the drawing-room, she secured his lordship at once and managed to keep him.
She was a woman who could talk pretty well, and perhaps Lord Walderhurst was amused.