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514 Befillaire.’ ‘Oh, charming!’ interrupted Kate’s patroness, who was sometimes taken literary. ‘Poetic, really. Read that description again, Miss Nickleby.’ Kate complied. ‘Sweet, indeed!’ said Mrs Wititterly, with a sigh. ‘So voluptuous, is it not--so soft?’ ‘Yes, I think it is,’ replied Kate, gently; ‘very soft.’ ‘Close the book, Miss Nickleby,’ said Mrs Wititterly. ‘I can hear nothing more today; I should be sorry to disturb the impression of that sweet description. Close the book.’ Kate complied, not unwillingly; and, as she did so, Mrs Wititterly raising her glass with a languid hand, remarked, that she looked pale. ‘It was the fright of that--that noise and confusion last night,’ said Kate. ‘How very odd!’ exclaimed Mrs Wititterly, with a look of surprise. And certainly, when one comes to think of it, it was very odd that anything should have disturbed a companion. A steam- engine, or other ingenious piece of mechanism out of order, would have been nothing to it. ‘How did you come to know Lord Frederick, and those other delightful creatures, child?’ asked Mrs Wititterly, still eyeing Kate through her glass. ‘I met them at my uncle’s,’ said Kate, vexed to feel that she was colouring deeply, but unable to keep down the blood which rushed to her face whenever she thought of that man. ‘Have you known them long?’ ‘No,’ rejoined Kate. ‘Not long.’ |