make out part of a lesson. To praise so extraordinary endowments, was one part of Mrs. Dicky's province, and if no company was expected for the evening, she was to make one in the drawing-room to whistle to the bird, to play with Pompey, and celebrate his beauty; or while my lord, my lady, and their eldest son and daughter played a rubber at whist, to take a round game with the younger honourables, the governor and governante. Advancing in promotion, Mrs. Dicky became a member of larger parties, when my lord's sister, Lady Betty, and her husband Sir Ralph, came to pay a visit, and two or three cousins of the family made up an evening party. Now Mrs. Dicky, instead of belonging to a light infantry detachment at a round table, was stationed as a corps of reserve to bring up the rear at Cassino or Whist was sometimes asked, to cut in if nobody
