She, with an eagerness which might have been expected from her,
had promised that she would slave for him, if slavery were
necessary. Then she had made her request, had been refused, and
was now moody. 'The Duchess of ------ is to be Mistress of The
Robes,' he said to her one day. He had gone to her, up to her
own room, before he dressed for dinner, having devoted much more
time that as Prime Minister he ought to have done to a resolution
that he would make things straight with her, and to the best way
of doing it.

'So I am told. She ought to know her away about the place, as I
remember she was at the same work when I was a girl of eleven.'

'That's not so very long ago, Cora.'

'Silverbridge is older now than I was then, and I think that
makes it a very long time ago.' Lord Silverbridge was the Duke's
eldest son.

'But what does it matter? If she began her career at the time of
George the Fourth, what is it to you?'

'Nothing on earth,--only that she did in truth begin her career
in the time of George the Third. I'm sure she's nearer sixty
than fifty.'

'I'm glad to see you remember your dates so well.'

'It's a pity she should not remember hers in the ways she
dresses,' said the Duchess.