Austin's. Lady Merton would have been glad to
read Mrs. Woodbourne all the admiration of Helen, which Mrs. Staunton
had poured forth to her in a letter written a short time before; but
the terms in which it was expressed were more exaggerated than Lady
Merton liked to shew to one who was not acquainted with Mrs.
Staunton, and besides, her praise of Helen was full of comparison
with her mother.
Visiting Abbeychurch was always painful to Lady Merton, and her
manner, usually rather cold, was still more constrained when she was
there; for, although both she and Sir Edward had been very careful
not to shew any want of cordiality towards Mr. and Mrs. Woodbourne,
they could not but feel that the Vicarage never could be to them what
it once had been. It was certainly quite impossible not to have an
affection for its present gentle kind-hearted mistress; and Lady
Merton felt exceedingly grateful to her, for having, some years ago,
nursed Rupert through a dangerous attack of scarlet-fever, with which
he had been seized at Abbeychurch, when on his way from school, when
she herself had been prevented by illness from coming to him; and
Mrs.
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