Cholmondeley, Mary, 1859-1925 / 2008-11-21 00:00:00

"Quite right. I could not have
placed it better myself. What, Brown? Sir George is in the drawing-room,
is he? and tea, as I perceive, is going in at this moment. Come, Colonel
Middleton." And we followed the butler to the drawing-room.
I am not a person who easily becomes confused, but I must own I did get
confused with the large party into the midst of which we were now
ushered. I soon made out Sir George Danvers, a delicate, but
irascible-looking old gentleman, who received me with dignified
cordiality, but returned Charles's greeting with a certain formality and
coldness which I was pained to see, family affection being, in my
opinion, the chief blessing of a truly happy home. Charles I already
knew, and with the second son, Ralph, a ruddy, smiling young man with
any amount of white teeth, I had no difficulty; but after that I became
hopelessly involved. I was introduced to an elderly lady whom I
addressed for the rest of the evening as Lady Danvers, until Charles
casually mentioned that his mother was dead, and that, until the
Deceased Wife's Sister Bill was passed, he did not anticipate that his
aunt Mary would take upon herself the position of step-mother to her
orphaned nephews.
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