But it was out of the
question that Lady Eustace should bear all the expense. Mrs. Carbuncle
undertook to find the stables, and did pay for that rick of hay and for
the cartload of forage which had made Lizzie's heart quake as she saw it
dragged up the hill towards her own granaries. It is very comfortable when
all these things are clearly understood. Early in January they were all to
go back to London. Then for a while--up to the period of Lucinda's
marriage--Lizzie was to be Mrs. Carbuncle's guest at the small house in
May Fair, but Lizzie was to keep the carriage. There came at last to be
some little attempt, perhaps, at a hard bargain at the hand of each lady,
in which Mrs. Carbuncle, as the elder, probably got the advantage. There
was a question about the liveries in London. The footman there must
appertain to Mrs. Carbuncle, whereas the coachman would as necessarily be
one of Lizzie's retainers. Mrs. Carbuncle assented at last to finding the
double livery--but, like a prudent woman, arranged to get her quid pro
quo. "You can add something, you know, to the present you'll have to give
Lucinda. Lucinda shall choose something up to forty pounds.
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