322 The Discomfiture of Mrs. Trimmings 



eccentric ladyship in the capacity of maid, and had been 

 promoted to the rank of humble companion. Had Lady 

 Covertside ever met the Lyghtes? Mrs. Trimmings 

 had ; knew them well ; her son and Lyghte belonged to 

 two or three of the same clubs, and were great allies. 

 Mrs. Lyghte was very clever, and it was said had written 

 ' The Way of the World,' a novel, published anonymously, 

 which had made a brilliant success last season. Mrs. 

 Trimmings nodded her head oracularly, as if she could 

 tell a good deal about the composition of this work if she 

 were inclined, and conversation was for a short time 

 continued by her recital of the movements of noble 

 families whose doings had lately been described in 

 various public prints, the speaker setting the details 

 forth as much as possible as if she were talking of 

 private friends. Lady Covertside rose and fled when she 

 could stand it no longer. ' What an awful woman ! ' 

 IJilda exclaimed as they presently drove away, and her 

 mother simply shrugged her shoulders. 



The week of anxious expectation which preceded the 

 day of the dinner passed slowly ; but at length the time 

 arrived, and Mrs. Trimmings triumphantly told her 

 coachman to go to Covertside House, as if it were one of 

 her accustomed resorts. The coachman winked at the 

 footman, and he passed it on to the housekeeper, who 

 was seeing her mistress off, for the weaknesses of Mrs. 

 Trimmings were perfectly well understood in the servants' 

 hall. They summed up their mistress accurately enough, 

 and, indeed, ' Lady Covertside ' had not been off her 

 tongue for the week past. 



She arrived so early that, though the girls were in 

 the drawing-room — they make a little grimace at each 

 other when Mrs. Trimmings was announced and came 



