"
"Kicked!--whom?"
"Kicked all round; I mean showed temper. And when she got to London,
and had ridden a few times in the park, and swallowed flattery, there
was no holding her. I stood her cheek for a good while, but at last I
told the servants they must not turn her out, but they could keep her
out. They sided with me for once. She had ridden over them, as well.
The first time she went out they bolted the doors, and handed her boxes
up the area steps."
"How did she take that?"
"Easier than we expected. She said, 'Lucky for you beggars that I'm a
lady, or I'd break every d--d window in the house.'"
This caused a laugh. It subsided. The historian resumed.
"Next day she cooled, and wrote a letter."
"To you?"
"No, to my groom. Would you like to see it? It is a curiosity."
He sent one of the club waiters for his servant, and his servant for
his desk, and produced the letter.
"There!" said Vandeleur. "She looks like a queen, and steps like an
empress, and this is how she writes:
"'DEAR JORGE--i have got the sak, an' praps your turn nex. dear jorge
he alwaies promise me the grey oss, which now an oss is life an death
to me. If you was to ast him to lend me the grey he wouldn't refuse
you,
"'Yours respecfully,
"'RHODA SOMERSET.
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