'If we ask him, we must ask Netta. She has come home quite accomplished
from boarding school, and would do in a quiet way. Mrs Jonathan would be
pleased, and you know she _is_ a lady, though awfully particular. I
can't endure her either.'

'Perhaps you could invite Lady Mary, and Miss Nugent to meet them?'

'I don't think they would like it. They would not object to the two
clergymen, because, as Lady Mary says, 'You see, my dear, the cloth is a
passport to all grades of society;' but they would not approve of Netta.
That is to say, Lady Mary would think herself insulted if we introduced
her sweet Wilhelmina to a farmer's daughter.'

'She is a very superior woman, my love, and understands etiquette, and
all that sort of thing, better than any one I ever met.'

'She seems to me to understand her own interests, papa, as well as most
people. But I will tell her that Sir Hugh and the Protheros are coming,
and that we have asked Netta, so she can accept or decline as she
likes.'

'Do you think it wise, my dear, to put yourself so much on a level with
Miss Prothero, as to invite her?'

'Oh! she understands how we are very well. It will be a source of pride
and satisfaction to her, without making her presume more than before;
and the vicar and his lady will like the attention.'

'I dread the vicar. His genealogies are too much for me.'