" "Gratitude, Lady Mary, if
not respect for my feelings, should preserve that good man's name
from reproach." Lord Henry's eye was unusually expressive--he
continued:--"The coronet that graces your own soul-inspiring face would
lack the lustre of its present brilliancy, but for the generous bequest
of the old city banker, whose _plum_ was the _sweetest windfall_ that
ever dropt into the empty purse of the poor possessor of an ancient
baronial title. The old battlements of Crackenbury have stood many a
siege, 'tis true; but that formidable engine of modern warfare, the
_catapulta_ of the auctioneer, had, but for him, proved more destructive
to its walls than the battering-ram and hoarse cannonades of ancient
rebels."
~288~~When a woman is foiled at argument, she generally has recourse
to finesse. Lady Mary had made up her mind to carry her point; finding
therefore the right column of her vengeance turned by the smart attack
of D'Almaine's raillery, she was determined to out-flank him with
her whole park of well-appointed artillery, consisting of all those
endearing, solicitous looks and expressions, that can melt the most
obdurate heart, and command a victory over the most experienced general.
It was in vain that Lord Henry urged the unusual heavy expenses of the
season in town,--the four hundred paid for the box at the opera,--or the
seven hundred for the greys and the new barouche,--the pending demand
from Messrs.
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