CHAPTER XLVIII.
When Count Riccardini arrived in Welbeck Street, he was constrained in manner, and his fine countenance betrayed displeasure, it being an open book, always revealing what was passing within. Lady Anne could not be surprised at this, for he had been to the neighbourhood where she had taken such unwarrantable liberties with his name and that of the wife he loved; and, although many years had passed since then, the affair had come to him with all its original freshness, "for country people, not having the advantage of a succession of scandals, are obliged to nourish the memory of old affairs for their amusement."
Georgiana felt a little intimidated; but, recollecting what Helen had said of his kindness, and perceiving that her mamma was struck into unwonted silence, she ventured to "hope that his journey to the north had been productive of health and pleasure."
"It have, in every respect, for I have got in my possessione the picture of your aunt, my own beautiful Margarita, concerning which, Lady Anne, you tell me one large falshood; you say it was heirloom, and cannot be remove. The owner say "you might
