For she had simply "cut" the August moon....
There was the fiasco about Olga coming to the tableaux, which was the
cause of her sending that very tart reply, via Miss Lyall, to Lady
Ambermere's impertinence, and the very next morning, Lady Ambermere,
coming again into Riseholme, perhaps for that very purpose, had behaved
to Lucia as Lucia had behaved to the moon, and cut her. That was
irritating, but the counter-irritant to it had been that Lady Ambermere
had then gone to Olga's, and been told that she was not at home, though
she was very audibly practising in her music-room at the time. Upon
which Lady Ambermere had said "Home" to her people, and got in with
such unconcern of the material world that she sat down on Pug.
Mrs Quantock had heard both "Home" and Pug, and told the cut Lucia, who
was a hundred yards away about it. She also told her about the
engagement of Atkinson and Elizabeth, which was all she knew about
events in those houses. On which Lucia with a kind smile had said,
"Dear Daisy, what slaves some people are to their servants. I am sure
Mrs Weston and Colonel Boucher will be quite miserable, poor things.
Now I must run home. How I wish I could stop and chat on the green!"
And she gave her silvery laugh, for she felt much better now that she
knew Olga had said she was out to Lady Ambermere, when she was so
audibly in.
Then came a second piece of bad luck.
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