Love and Life | Page 7

low room with a large light closet at

each end. One of these was sacred to powder, the other was Betty's
private property. Harriet had a little white bed to herself, Betty and
Aurelia nightly climbed into a lofty and solemn structure curtained with
ancient figured damask. Each had her own toilette-table and a press for
her clothes, where she contrived to stow them in a wonderfully small
space.
Harriet and Aurelia had divested themselves of their finery before Betty
came in, and they assisted her operations, Harriet preferring a
complaint that she never would tell them anything.
"I have no objection to tell you at fitting times," said Betty, "but not
with Palmer putting in his word. You should have discretion, Harriet."
"The Dean's servants never speak when they are waiting at table," said
Harriet with a pout.
"But I'll warrant them to hear!" retorted Betty.
"And I had rather have our dear old honest corporal than a dozen of
those fine lackeys," said Aurelia. "But you will tell us the story like a
good sister, while we brush the powder out of our hair."
They put on powdering gowns, after releasing themselves from the
armour of their stays, and were at last at ease, each seated on a wooden
chair in the powdering closet, brush in hand, with a cloud of white dust
flying round, and the true colour of the hair beginning to appear.
"Then it is indeed true that My Lady is one of the greatest beauties of
Queen Caroline's Court, if not the greatest?" said Harriet.
"Truly she is," said Betty, "and though in full maturity, she preserves
the splendour of her prime."
"Tell us more particularly," said Aurelia; "can she be more lovely than
our dear mamma?"
"No, indeed! lovely was never the word for her, to my mind," said
Betty; "her face always seemed to me more like that of one of the
marble statues I remember at Vienna; perfect, but clear, cold, and hard.
But I am no judge, for I did not love her, and in a child, admiration
accompanies affection."
"What did Palmer mean by 'handsome is that handsome does'? Surely
my father never was ill-treated by Lady Belamour?"
"Let me explain," said the elder sister. "The ancient custom and
precedent of our family have always transmitted the estates to the male
heir. But when Charles II. granted the patent of nobility to the first

Baron Delavie, the barony was limited to the heirs male of his body,
and out grandfather was only his brother. The last Lord had three sons,
and one daughter, Urania, who alone survived him."
"I know all that from the monument," said Aurelia; "one was drowned
while bathing, one died of spotted fever, and one was killed at the
battle of Ramillies. How dreadful for the poor old father!"
"And there is no Lord Delavie now," said Harriet. "Why, since my
Lady could not have the title, did it not come to our papa?"
"Because his father was not in the patent," said Betty. "However, it was
thought that if he were married to Mistress Urania, there would be a
fresh creation in their favour. So as soon as the last campaign was over,
our father, who had always been a favourite at the great house, was sent
for from the army, and given to understand that he was to conduct his
courtship, with the cousin he had petted as a little child, as speedily as
was decorous. However, in winter quarters at Tournai he had already
pledged his faith to the daughter of a Scottish gentleman in the Austrian
service. This engagement was viewed by the old Lord as a trifling folly,
which might be set aside by the head of the family. He hinted that the
proposed match was by no means disagreeable to his daughter, and
scarcely credited his ears when his young kinsman declared his honour
forbade him to break with Miss Murray."
"Dear father," ejaculated Aurelia, "so he gave up everything for her
sake?"
"And never repented it!" said Betty.
"Now," said Harriet, "I understand why he entered the army."
"It was all he had to depend on," said Betty, "and he had been
favourably noticed by Prince Eugene at the siege of Lisle, so that he
easily obtained a commission. He believed that though it was in the
power of the old Lord to dispose of part of his estates by will, yet that
some of the land was entailed in the male line, so that there need not be
many years of campaigning or poverty for his bride, even if her father
never were restored to his Scottish property. As you know, our
grandfather, Sir Archibald Murray, died for his loyalty in the rising of
'15, and two years later