She could not fail to notice the
admiration Madame Cyprienne generally received, especially from the
men, and she doubted whether she had done wisely in taking her by the
hand.
A few days later she had no doubt at all. To her disgust, all the old
Spanish point-lace was gone; and Madame Cyprienne had told her plainly
that it was her own fault for haggling over the price. Her ladyship's
disgust was heightened when she found the best piece of all--a
magnificent white mantilla--in the possession of a rival leader of
fashion, who refused to say where she had got it, or how.
She set her emissaries at work, however--for every great London lady
has a dozen devoted, unpaid _attaches_, ready to do any little
commission of this kind--and the lace was traced back to Colonel
Wilders.
"My dear," she said, one morning, to her lord, "I am afraid Colonel
Wilders is very intimate with that Madame Cyprienne."
"Our eccentric Cousin Bill! You don't say so? Well, there's no fool
like an old fool," said Lord Essendine, who was a very matter-of-fact,
plain-spoken peer.
"I always thought she was an adventuress," cried Lady Essendine,
angrily.
"Then why did you take her up so hotly? But for you, no one would ever
have heard of the woman, least of all Cousin Bill."
"Well, I have done with her now.
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