Madame Montejiore. 169 



hostess risen to leave the table. On meeting 

 again in the drawing-room, Mr. Smith was 

 at once assailed for his ^^ experience;" and he 

 got rid of his questioner as quickly as he 

 could by saying that the great object in breed- 

 ing hounds was to supply any defect in either 

 father or mother by crossing with another 

 that had not that defect, but that, contrary 

 to her ladyship's theory, young hounds in- 

 herited the qualities of the father rather than 

 of the mother. 



Probably it was Lady Morgan's modesty 

 that hindered her from enumerating any of her 

 own sex as indebted to clever mothers, or she 

 might very fairly have quoted Madame Monte- 

 fiore, the sister of the late Mr. Eothschild, 

 who was certainly one of the most clever and 

 accomplished ladies that Mr. Smith has ever 

 known. She was the intimate friend of him- 

 self and his wife, and they visited her both in 

 England and abroad. She had a house near 

 Cuckfield ; and hearing that they were about 



