In short, to her he seemed a fashionable hero;
but she was quite sure he never would hamper himself with two little
portionless boys. Ada Liddell was by no means unkind to her children;
she was ready to pet them when they met, and give them what did not cost
her too much; but she considered them a terrible disadvantage, and
herself a most generous and devoted mother.
The day after she had been so ignominiously expelled from John Liddell's
house she put on the prettiest thing she possessed in the way of a
bonnet--a contrivance of black lace and violets--and having inspected
the turn-out of the children's maid in her best go-to-meeting attire,
also the putting on of the boys' newest sailor suits, the curling of
their hair, and many minor details, she sallied forth across Kensington
Gardens to the ride, feeling tolerably sure that, in consequence of a
hint she had dropped a day or two before, when taking afternoon tea in
Mrs. Burnett's drawing-room, Colonel Ormonde would probably be amongst
the riders on his powerful chestnut, ready to receive her report. She
was quite sure he was very much smitten, and eager to know what her
chances with old Liddell might be; and as her mother-in-law had a bad
habit of presiding over her own tea-table, it would be more convenient
to talk with her gay Lothario in the Park.
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