said Mrs Gibson, fluttered and annoyed as she usually was with the Lilliputian darts' Cynthia flung at her.She had recourse to her accustomed feckless piece of retaliation - bestowing some favour on Molly; and this did not hurt Cynthia one whit.'Molly, darling, there's a very cold wind, though it looks so fine.You had better put on my Indian shawl; and it will look so pretty, too, on your grey gown - scarlet and grey - it's not everybody I would lend it to, but you're so careful.' 'Thank you,' said Molly: and she left Mrs Gibson in careless uncertainty as to whether her otter would be accepted or not.Lady Harriet was sorry to miss Molly, as she was fond of the girl; but as she perfectly agreed with Mrs Gibson's truisms about 'constancy' and 'old friends,' she saw no occasion for saying any more about the affair, but sate down in a little low chair with her feet on the fender.This said fender was made of bright, bright steel, and was strictly tabooed to all household and plebeian feet; indeed the position, if they assumed it, was considered low-bred and vulgar.'That's right, dear Lady Harriet! you can't think what a pleasure it is to me to welcome you at my own fireside, into my humble home.' 'Humble! now, Clare, that's a little bit of nonsense, begging your pardon.
I don't call this pretty little drawing-room a bit of a "humble home."It is as full of comforts, and of pretty things too, as any room of its size can be.' 'Ah! how small you must feel it! even I had to reconcile myself to it at first.' 'Well! perhaps your school-room was larger, but remember how bare it was, how empty of anything but deal tables, and forms, and mats.Oh, indeed, Clare, I quite agree with mamma, who always says you have done very well for yourself; and Mr Gibson too! What an agreeable, well-informed man!' 'Yes, he is,' said his wife, slowly, as if she did not like to relinquish her rôle of a victim to circumstances quite immediately.'He is very agreeable, very; only we see so little of him; and of course he comes home tired and hungry, and not inclined to talk to his own family, and apt to go to sleep.' 'Come, come!' said Lady Harriet, 'I'm going to have my turn now.We've had the complaint of a doctor's wife, now hear the moans of a peer's daughter.
Our house is so overrun with visitors; and literally to-day I have come to you for a little solitude.' 'Solitude!' exclaimed Mrs Gibson.'Would you rather be alone?' slightly aggrieved.'No, you dear silly woman; my solitude requires a listener, to whom I may say, "How sweet is solitude." But I am tired of the responsibility of entertaining.
Papa is so open-hearted, he asks every friend he meets with to come and pay us a visit.Mamma is really a great invalid, but she does not choose to give up her reputation for good health, having always considered illness a want of self-control.So she gets wearied and worried by a crowd of people who are all of them open-mouthed for amusement of some kind; just like a brood of fledglings in a nest; so I have to be parent-bird, and pop morsels into their yellow leathery bills, to find them swallowed down before Ican think of where to find the next.Oh, it's "entertaining" in the largest, literalest, dreariest sense of the word.So I have told a few lies this morning, and come off here for quietness and the comfort of complaining!' Lady Harriet threw herself back in her chair, and yawned; Mrs Gibson took one of her ladyship's hands in a soft sympathizing manner, and murmured, 'Poor Lady Harriet!' and then she purred affectionately.After a pause Lady Harriet started up and said, - 'I used to take you as my arbiter of morals when I was a little girl.Tell me, do you think it wrong to tell lies?' 'Oh, my dear! how can you ask such questions? - of course it is very wrong, - very wicked indeed, I think I may say.But I know you were only joking when you said you had told lies.' 'No, indeed, I was not.I told as plump fat lies as you would wish to hear.
I said I "was obliged to go into Hollingford on business," when the truth was there was no obligation in the matter, only an insupportable desire of being free from my visitors for an hour or two, and my only business was to come here, and yawn, and complain, and lounge at my leisure.I really think I'm unhappy at having told a story, as children express it.' 'But, my dear Lady Harriet,' said Mrs Gibson, a little puzzled as to the exact meaning of the words that were trembling on her tongue, 'I am sure you thought that you meant what you said, when you said it.' 'No, I didn't,' put in Lady Harriet.'And besides, if you didn't, it was the fault of the tiresome people who drove you into such straits - yes, it was certainly their fault, not yours - and then you know the conventions of society - ah, what trammels they are!' Lady Harriet was silent for a minute or two; then she said, - 'Tell me, Clare; you've told lies sometimes, haven't you?' 'Lady Harriet! r think you might have known me better; but I know you don't mean it, dear.' 'Yes, I do.You must have told white lies, at any rate.How did you feel after them?' 'I should have been miserable if I ever had.I should have died of self-reproach.
"The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," has always seemed to me such a fine passage.But then I have so much that is unbending in my nature, and in our sphere of life there are so few temptations.If we are humble, we are also simple, and unshackled by etiquette.' 'Then you blame me very much? If somebody else will blame me, I shan't be so unhappy at what I said this morning.' 'I am sure I never blamed you, not in my innermost heart, dear Lady Harriet.
