"
"Is it very big?"
"Immense."
"Belong to the queen?"
"No, to papa."
"Oh!"
And here my reader may well ask what was Lady Bassett about, or did
Compton, with all his excellent teaching, conceal all this from his
mother and his friend.
On the contrary, he went open-mouthed to her and told her he had seen
such a pretty little girl, and gave her a brief account of their
conversation.
Lady Bassett was startled at first, and greatly perplexed. She told him
he must on no account go to her; if he spoke to her, it must be on
papa's ground. She even made him pledge his honor to that.
More than that she did not like to say. She thought it unnecessary and
undesirable to transmit to another generation the unhappy feud by which
she had suffered so much, and was even then suffering. Moreover, she
was as much afraid of Richard Bassett as ever. If he chose to tell his
girl not to speak to Compton, he might. She was resolved not to go out
of her way to affront him, through his daughter. Besides, that might
wound Mrs. Bassett, if it got round to her ears; and, although she had
never spoken to Mrs. Bassett, yet their eyes had met in church, and
always with a pacific expression. Indeed, Lady Bassett felt sure she
had read in that meek woman's face a regret that they were not friends,
and could not be friends, because of their husbands.
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