who had seen her. The friendship begun over
bread-and-butter, extended on to cards. Lady
Glenmire played Preference to admiration,
and was a complete authority as to Ombre
and Quadrille. Even Miss Pole quite forgot
to say " my lady," and " your ladyship," and
said " Basto! ma'am; " " you have Spadille,
I believe," just as quietly as if we had never
held the great Cranford parliament on the
subject of the proper mode of addressing a
peeress.

As a proof of how thoroughly we had
forgotten that we were in the presence of one
who might have sat down to tea with a
coronet, instead of a cap, on her head, Mrs.
Forrester related a curious little fact to Lady
Glenmire—an anecdote known to the circle
of her intimate friends, but of which even
Mrs. Jamieson was not aware. It related to
some fine old lace, the sole relic of better days,
which Lady Glenmire was admiring on Mrs.
Forrester's collar.

"Yes," said that lady, " such lace cannot be
got now for either love or money; made by
the nuns abroad they tell me. They say that
they can't make it now even there. But,
perhaps, they can, now they've passed the
Catholic Emancipation Bill. I should not
wonder. But, in the meantime, I treasure up
my lace very much. I daren't even trust the
washing of it to my maid " (the little charity
school-girl I have named before, but who
sounded well as " my maid.") " I always
wash it myself. And once it had a narrow
escape. Of course, your ladyship knows that
such lace must never be starched or ironed;
some people wash it in sugar and water; and
some in coffee, to make it the right yellow
colour; but I myself have a very good
receipt for washing it in milk, which stiffens
it enough, and gives it a very good creamy
colour. Well, ma'am, I had tacked it
together (and the beauty of this fine lace is,
that when it is wet, it goes into a very little
space), and put it to soak in milk, when,
unfortunately, I left the room; on my
return, I found pussy on the table, looking
very like a thief, but gulping very
uncomfortably, as if she was half-choked with
something she wanted to swallow, and could
not. And, would you believe it? At first, I
pitied her, and said, ' Poor pussy! poor
pussy! ' till, all at once, I looked and saw
the cup of milk empty—cleaned out! ' You
naughty cat! ' said I; and I believe I was
provoked enough to give her a slap, which
did no good, but only helped the lace down—
just as one slaps a choking child on the back.
I could have cried, I was so vexed; but I
determined I would not give the lace up
without a struggle for it. I hoped the lace
might disagree with her, at any rate; but it
would have been too much for Job, if he had
seen, as I did, that cat come in, quite placid
and purring, not a quarter of an hour after,
and almost expecting to be stroked. ' No,
pussy! ' said I; ' if you have any conscience,
you ought not to expect that! ' And then
a thought struck me; and I rang the bell for
my maid, and sent her to Mr. Hoggins, with
my compliments, and would he be kind
enough to lend me one of his top-boots for
an hour? I did not think there was anything
odd in the message; but Jenny said the
young men in the surgery laughed as if they
would be ill at my wanting a top-boot. When
it came, Jenny and I put pussy in, with her
fore-feet straight down, so that they were
fastened, and could not scratch, and we gave
her a tea-spoonful of currant-jelly, in which
(your ladyship must excuse me) I had mixed
some tartar emetic. I shall never forget how
anxious I was that next half-hour. I took
pussy to my own room, and spread a clean
towel on the floor. I could have kissed her
when she returned the lace to sight, very
much as it had gone down. Jenny had boiling
water ready, and we soaked it, and soaked it,
and spread it on a lavender-bush in the sun,
before I could touch it again, even to put it
in milk. But now, your ladyship would
never guess that it had been in pussy's
inside."

We found out in the course of the evening
that Lady Glenmire was going to pay Mrs.
Jamieson a long visit, as she had given up
her apartments in Edinburgh, and had no ties
to take her back there in a hurry. On the
whole, we were rather glad to hear this, for
she had made a pleasant impression upon us;
and it was also very comfortable to find, from
things which dropped out in the course of
conversation, that, in addition to many other
genteel qualities, she was far removed from
the vulgarity of wealth.

"Don't you find it very unpleasant, walking ?"
asked Mrs. Jamieson, as our respective
servants were announced. It was a pretty
regular question from Mrs. Jamieson, who
had her own carriage in the coach-house, and
always went out in a sedan chair to the very
shortest distances. The answers were nearly
as much a matter of course,

"Oh dear, no! it is so pleasant and still at
night! " " Such a refreshment after the
excitement of a party! " " The stars are
so beautiful! " This last was from Miss
Matey.

"Are you fond of astronomy? " Lady
Glenmire asked.

"Not very "—replied Miss Matey, rather
confused at the moment to remember which
was astronomy, and which was astrology—but
the answer was true under either circumstance,
for she read, and was slightly alarmed
at, Francis Moore's astrological predictions;
and, as to astronomy, in a private and
confidential conversation, she had told me,
she never could believe that the earth
was moving constantly, and that she would
not believe it if she could, it made her feel
so tired and dizzy whenever she thought
about it.

In our pattens, we picked our way home