She never talked of the long and the short of it. She did not wander out o' nights in winter among the ruins. She made no fast friendship with ladies whom her lord did not like. She had once, indeed, been approached by a lover since she had been married,--Mr. Palliser himself having been the offender,--but she had turned the affair to infinite credit and profit, had gained her husband's closest confidence by telling him of it all, had yet not brought on any hostile collision, and had even dismissed her lover without annoying him. But then Lady Hartletop was a miracle of a woman!

She did not wander out on winter nights among the ruins.
She had once, indeed, been approached by a lover after she had been married - Mr. Palliser himself having been the offender - but she had turned the affair to credit, had gained her husband's closest confidence by telling him of it all, and had even dismissed her lover without annoying him. But then Lady Hartletop was a miracle of a woman!
