Mr. Pendennis had also the honour of a card. Accordingly Clive took me up
at Bays's, and we proceeded to the ball together.
The lady of the house, smiling upon all her guests, welcomed with
particular kindness her young friend from Rome. "Are you related to the
Miss Newcome, Lady Anne Newcome's daughter? Her cousin? She will be here
to-night." Very likely Lady Fareham did not see Clive wince and blush at
this announcement, her ladyship having to occupy herself with a thousand
other people. Clive found a dozen of his Roman friends in the room,
ladies young and middle-aged, plain and handsome, all glad to see his
kind face. The house was splendid; the ladies magnificently dressed; the
ball beautiful, though it appeared a little dull until that event took
place whereof we treated two pages back (in the allegory of Mr. Tomkins
and Miss Hopkins), and Lady Kew and her granddaughter made their
appearance.
That old woman, who began to look more and more like the wicked fairy of
the stories, who is not invited to the Princess's Christening Feast, had
this advantage over her likeness, that she was invited everywhere; though
how she, at her age, could fly about to so many parties, unless she was a
fairy, no one could say.
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