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LADY ANNE GRANARD.
139



CHAPTER XXXIV.


Both the sisters prepared various letters, and took especial care to supply the wants of Helen, trusting that Georgiana's would be cared for by the earl her uncle; but she was not left without money by Isabella, who well remembered what it was to hope and be disappointed—cast an eye and breathe a sigh over the lank sides of a worthless "silken purse," as devoid of merit as a "sow's ear"—when a pair of gloves could be no longer mended—a warm shawl was called for by every wind that blew, and there was no walking round the square for want of winter boots. "In a nobleman's house how many gloves, and ribbons, and dresses, too, are wanted!—poor Georgiana must have ten pounds, at all events."

And never did Isabella relieve a suffering fellow-creature, or assist a beloved sister, without blessing the dear, distant one that had made her rich, and kissing her sweet boy with new zest, as the son of his father. The warm apostrophe of Riccardini to this little representative of his parents, whom he called "the son of his love, the child of his old age, the gift of his beloved niece, on the behalf of his angel-daughter," affected them all; and if prayers and blessings