Colonel Stafford, that she might
have by this time returned from Dublin, and there was some little
interest about the good old lady, even in this, that she had just
returned by the same road that he had gone away by, that she might have
chanced to see him as he passed; that at least she might happen to speak
of him, and to know something of the likelihood of his return, or even
to speculate about him; for now any talk in which his name occurred was
interesting, though she did not know it quite herself. So she went down
to the King's House, and did find old Mrs. Stafford at home: and after
an entertaining gossip about some 'rich Nassau damask,' at Haughton's in
the Coombe, that had taken her fancy mightily, and how she had chosen a
set of new Nankeen plates and fine oblong dishes at the Music Hall, and
how Peter Raby, the watchman, was executed yesterday morning, in web
worsted breeches, for the murder of Mr. Thomas Fleming, of
Thomas-street, she did come at last to mention Devereux: and she said
that the colonel had received a letter from General Chattesworth, 'who
by-the-bye,' and then came a long parenthesis, very pleasant, you may be
sure, for Lily to listen to; and the general, it appeared, thought it
most likely that Devereux would not return to Chapelizod, and the Royal
Irish Artillery; and then she went on to other subjects, and Lily staid
a long time, thinking she might return to Devereux, but she did not
mention him again.
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