The Real Charlotte. 1 07 



Mrs. Lambert said ! You were calculating how many 

 gallons of tea will be wanted for your school feast." 



" Nonsense, Isabel ! " said Mrs. Gascogne hotly, with an 

 indignant and repressive glance at Lady Dysart, "and how 

 was it — " turning to Mrs. Lambert, " that he — a — swallowed 

 so much lake water ? " 



" He was cot under the sail, Mrs. Gascogne. He made 

 a sort of a dash at Miss Fitzpatrick to save her when she 

 was falling, and he slipped someway, and got in under the 

 sail and he was half-choked before he could get out ! " A 

 tear of sensibility trickled down the good turkey-hen's red 

 beak. " Indeed, I don't know when I've been so upset. 

 Lady Dysart," she quavered. 



" Upset ! " echoed Lady Dysart, raising her large eyes 

 dramatically to the cut glass chandelier, " I can well believe 

 it ! When it came to ten o'clock and there was no sign of 

 them, I was simply raging up and down between the house 

 and the pier like a mad bull robbed of its whelps ! " She 

 turned to Mrs. Gascogne, feeling that there was a bibhcal 

 ring in the peroration that demanded a higher appreciation 

 than Mrs. Lambert could give, and was much chagrined to 

 see that lady concealing her laughter behind a handker- 

 chief. 



Mrs. Lambert looked bewilderedly from one to the other, 

 and, feeling that the ways of the aristocracy were beyond 

 her comprehension, went on with the recital of her own 

 woes. 



" He actually went down to Limerick by train in the 

 afternoon — he that was half-drowned the day before, and a 

 paragraph in the paper about his narrow escape. I haven't 

 had a wink of sleep those two nights, what with palpitations 

 and bad dreams. I don't believe, Lady Dysart, I'll ever be 

 the better of it." 



" Oh, you'll get over it soon, Mrs. Lambert," said Lady 

 Dysart cheerfully; "why, I had no less than three chil- 

 dren—" 



" Calves," murmured Mrs. Gascogne, with still streaming 

 eyes. 



" Children," repeated Lady Dysart emphatically, " and I 

 thought they were every one of them drowned ! " 



** Oh, but a husband^ Lady Dysart," cried Mrs. Lambert 



