"
"No, Lady Laura; papa won't let me visit any one at Holborough, except my
uncle and aunt, the Olivers."
"Yes; I know the Olivers very well indeed. Remarkably pleasant people."
"And I don't even know how to play croquet."
"Why, my poor benighted child, in what a state of barbarism this father of
yours is bringing you up! How are you ever to marry and take your place
in the world? And with your advantages, too! What can the man be dreaming
about? I shall talk to him very seriously. We are quite old friends, you
know, my dear, and I can venture to say what I like to him. You must come
to me immediately. I shall have a houseful of people in a week or two,
and you shall have a peep at the gay world. Poor little prison flower! no
wonder you look thoughtful and pale. And now show me your garden, please,
Miss Lovel. We can stroll about till your father comes home; I mean to talk
to him _at once_."
Energy was one of the qualities of her own character for which Laura
Armstrong especially valued herself. She was always doing something or
other which she was not actually called upon by her own duty or by the
desire of other people to do, and she was always eager to do it "at once."
She had come to Mill Cottage intending to show some kindness to Clarissa
Lovel, whose father and her own father, the Earl of Calderwood, had been
firm friends in the days when the master of Arden entertained the county;
and Clarissa's manner and appearance having impressed her most favourably,
she was eager to do her immediate service, to have her at the Castle, and
show her to the world, and get her a rich husband if possible.
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