Castle Richmond Author:Anthony Trollope Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: with this resolve he endeavoured to comfort himself as he drove up into his own avenue, and betook himself to his own solitary home. CHAPTER III. CLARA. DE... more »SMOND. It had been Clara Desmond's first ball, and on the following morning she had much to occupy her thoughts. In the first place, had she been pleased or had she not? Had she been most gratified or most pained ? Girls when they ask themselves such questions seldom give themselves fair answers. She had liked dancing with Owen Fitzgerald; oh, so much! She had liked dancing with others too, though she had not known them, and had hardly spoken to them. The mere act of dancing, with the loud music in the room, and the gay dresses and bright lights around her, had been delightful. But then it had pained her—she knew not why, but it had pained her—when her mother told her that people would make remarks about her. Had she done anything improper on this her first entry into the world? Was her conduct to be scanned, and judged, and condemned, while she was flattering herself that no one had noticed her but him who was speaking to her ? Their breakfast was late, and the countess sat, as was her wont, with her book beside her teacup, speaking a word every now and again to her son. ' Owen will be over here to-day,' said he. ' We are going to have a schooling match down on the Callows.' Now in Ireland a schooling match means the amusement of teaching your horses to jump. ' Will he ?' said Lady Desmond, looking up from her book for a moment. ' Mind you bring him in to lunch; I want to speak to him.' ' Ho doesn't care much about lunch, I fancy,' said he; ' and, maybe, we shall be half way to Millstreet by that time.' ' Never mind, but do as I tell you. You expect everybody to be as wild and wayward as yourself.' An...« less