Blanche's cross-examination. 229 



" Bravo ! Miss Blanche," shouted a voice from the crowd 

 near the door ; " give it the rascally lawyer in turn." 



" I beg pardon, Miss Douglas," continued her tormentor ; 

 " but we have evidence to prove you were seen several times 

 walking alone with his lordship." 



" Twice only — when invited to take a walk by Miss Mervyn, 

 I was left alone, as I believed, purposely, to Lord Yancourt's 

 attentions, which being disagreeable to me, I never again 

 accompanied Miss Mervyn in her walks." 



"Still, Miss Douglas, notwithstanding Lord Yancourt's 

 attentions being, as you state, so disagreeable, you accepted him 

 as a partner at the Cherrington Ball, not for one only, but for 

 two quadrilles ; and dancing twice the same evening with the 

 same partner is generally considered a very particular favour." 



" I accepted Lord Yancourt for the second dance in obedi- 

 ence to my aunt Mrs. Harcourt's commands, and most certainly 

 contrary to my own inclination, being previously engaged to 

 Major Hammond for that set." 



" Well, Miss Douglas, we, who cannot enter into the fancies 

 and feelings of young ladies, must judge by their acts ; and I 

 should certainly consider it an act of encouragement in any lady 

 accepting me twice for a partner. Mammas and aunts are very 

 convenient personages sometimes to fall back upon." 



Blanche feeling too indignant to make any reply to this 

 impertinent inuendo, Serjeant Wrangler, with another signifi- 

 cant look at the jury, proceeded — 



" It was only two days after this ball at Cherrington, when 

 you danced twice with him, that Lord Yancourt wrote a formal 

 proposal for your hand, Miss Douglas ; and I can scarcely 

 imagine that his lordship, a thorough man of the world, moving 

 in the highest circles, well acquainted with the etiquette and 

 forms generally observed on such occasions, and, as you admit, 

 most courteous and deferential to ladies — neither forward nor 

 presuming — would have committed such an act of folly as 

 making a proposal for a young lady, unless fully satisfied in his 

 own mind that he had good grounds for believing his offer 

 would be accepted." 



"I never gave Lord Yancourt," replied Blanche, indig- 

 nantly, " the slightest encouragement in any way, having taken 

 a dislike to him from the first ; but, as an acquaintance of my 

 Aunt Harcourt, I could not behave rudely to him whilst I was 

 living under her protection at Throseby." 



" Oh ! of course not, Miss Douglas ! " added Wrangler, with 



