Not being 'come out,' she was left at home on the day when we set
out on a regular progress in the chariot with post-horses. The
britshka and pair, which were our ambition, were to wait till my
father's next rents came in. Morning calls in the country were a
solemn and imposing ceremony, and the head of the family had to be
taken on the first circuit; nor was there much scruple as to making
them in the forenoon, so several were to be disposed of before
fulfilling an engagement to luncheon at the farthest point, where
some old London friends had borrowed a house for the summer, and had
included me in their invitation.
Here alone did I leave the carriage, but I had Cooper's Spy and my
sketch-book as companions while waiting at doors where the
inhabitants were at home. The last visit was at Hillside Rectory, a
house of architecture somewhat similar to our own, but of the soft
creamy stone which so well set off the vine with purple clusters,
the myrtles and fuchsias, that covered it. I was wishing we had
drawn up far enough off for a sketch to be possible, when, from a
window close above, I heard the following words in a clear girlish
voice -
'No, indeed! I'm not going down. It is only those horrid
Earlscombe people. I can't think how they have the face to come
near us!'
There was a reply, perhaps that the parents had made the first
visit, for the rejoinder was--'Yes; grandpapa said it was a
Christian duty to make an advance; but they need not have come so
soon.
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