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without knowing it, I confess. In some fit of absence—perhaps in my sleep;—for I have slept, too, perhaps, without knowing it!"
Sarcasms so witty, uttered by a lady at an assembly in her own house, could not fail of being received with applause; and Mrs. Ireton, looking around her triumphantly, regarded the disconcerted Juliet as a completely vanquished vassal. In a tone, therefore, that marked the most perfect self-satisfaction, "Pray, Ma'am," she continued, "for what might you suppose I did myself the favour to want you? was it only to take a view of your new costume? 'Tis very careless and picturesque, to be sure, to rove abroad in that agreeable dishabille, just like the 'maiden all forlorn;' or rather to speak with mere exactitude, like the 'man all tattered and torn,' for 'tis more properly his costume you adopt, than the neat, tidy maiden's."
The warm-hearted young Lady Bar-
