Mr. Jervis, Volume II by B. M. Croker

Mrs. Langrishe gave an exceedingly languid acquiescence to the constant remark, "What a charming girl Miss Gordon is! and what a favourite she has become! Her aunt and uncle are quite devoted to her. " She was thinking sadly on these occasions of her own niece, Lalla, who danced like a fairy, or moonbeams on the sea, who was always surrounded at balls, whose banjo playing and smart sayings made her indispensable; no entertainment was considered complete without Miss Paske.

These social triumphs were delightful; but, alas! the fair Lalla was _Joie de rue, douleur de maison_, and her aunt, who smiled so complacently in public when congratulated on her young relative's social successes, knew in her heart that that same relative had proved a delusion and a cruel fraud. Fanny had been _much_ cleverer than she supposed in passing on a veritable infliction -- a very base little counterfeit coin. It was true that Fanny had not actually lied in her description. Lalla was good-looking, _piquante_, accomplished, and even-tempered; but an uneven temper would have been far easier to cope with. When remonstrated with, or spoken to sharply, the young lady merely smiled. When desired not to do such and such a thing, she did it -- and smiled. When her aunt, on rare occasions, lost her temper with her, she positively beamed. She never attempted to argue, but simply went her own way, as steadily obdurate as a whole train of commissariat mules.