230 THE STORY OF MY LIFE [1850
treated me with inordinate unkindness and selfishness to be contained in the information that they would not fail to remember me in their prayers. It was a new experience, not only that a beautiful and clever lady should try to make herself agreeable, but that she should think it worth while to make herself agreeable to me. No wonder I adored her. She was then living with her mother Lady Boyle in the same house of Millard's Hill, near Froine, in which my great-aunts Caroline and Marianne Hare had lived before; and, to my great surprise and delight, I was allowed to go by the coach to spend two days with her there. It was on this occasion that I first wore a morning coat instead of a jacket, and very proud I was of it. Apropos of dress at this time and for many years afterwards, all young gentlemen wore straps to their trousers, not only when riding, but always: it was considered the ne plus ultra of snob-bisrn to appear without them. The said trousers also always had stripes at the sides, which, beginning like those of soldiers, grew broader and broader, till they recalled the parti-coloured hose of Pmturicchio : then they disappeared .altogether.
The house of Millard's Hill, when the Boyles inhabited it, was quite enchanting, so filled with pictures, carvings, and china; and Miss Boyle herself was a more beautiful picture than any of those upon her walls — still wonderfully striking in appearance, with delicately chiselled features and an unrivalled complexion, while her golden-grey hair, brushed back and cut short like a boy's (owing to a coup de soldi long before), added a marvellous picturesqueness. better, and I should not mind if it was to the centre of the desert, if I could only feel I 1 Hugh Stuart Brown.ekfhhnitrliond uf* l!,iflim f ^lioliiti nfh'Ji liave been JliatiV Weekst**f. 1)H. No Hnri* at all. st» I have had a i»;raf$d e\pe» ililf«»ti !»» the hi-aitl iful «»1»I deserted hou%e of the Lon<rs at. Sntiih \Vi,t\l*;iIl, and !»,i\e hcen uritilitc halladsund stories ahitii! it ever >iiicc,"«-r »lrii-«* \\itli fl$»fj»i, hut IPT