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ETHEL CHURCHILL.
179

of eloquent authority, was employed in perfuming his handkerchief afresh. "I promise you," said she, after a pause of some minutes, "to wear the last new dress you gave me, it is a triumph of taste!"

Lord Marchmont bowed, and appropriated the compliment as if the taste had been his own, not the milliner's.

"And now," continued his wife, "I have a petition to offer."

"'When Beauty pleads, how can she plead in vain?'"

was his lordship's gallant reply.

"You know Miss Churchill? you used to admire her complexion so much. Well, her very foolish grandmother has mixed herself up in some nonsensical correspondence with the court of St. Germains; or, rather, has let herself be made a tool by Mr. Trevanion, who, I am happy to say, is not Ethel's husband; they arrested him just in time. However, the poor old lady is in great distress; she and her grandaughter are coming up to London, and I wish to give them all possible countenance