countess-dowager

He had made his first appearance in the great world as the husband of a countess-dowager, and it may be that the _parvenu_ was weak enough to shrink from producing, as his second wife, a woman of very much lower rank, the granddaughter of a country clergyman, and the daughter of a man of no pretension to station.

Notes and Queries, Number 210, November 5, 1853 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. Various 1852

Lord Hartledon was obliged to take down the countess-dowager, resigning his wife to Mr. Carr.

Elster's Folly Henry Wood 1850

Mirrable reached home to find the countess-dowager in a state more easily imagined than described.

Elster's Folly Henry Wood 1850

And now what devilry (there were people in Calne who called it nothing less) the old countess-dowager set afloat to secure her ends I am unable to tell you.

Elster's Folly Henry Wood 1850

The countess-dowager turned towards her daughter in a blazing rage, and Val Elster quitted the room.

Elster's Folly Henry Wood 1850

For once in her selfish and vulgar mind the countess-dowager felt a feeling akin to fear.

Elster's Folly Henry Wood 1850

The countess-dowager sat fanning herself quietly: for her daughter's words were gaining ground.

Elster's Folly Henry Wood 1850

The countess-dowager was not very adroit at spelling and composition, whether French or English, as you observe.

Elster's Folly Henry Wood 1850

The gratification of rummaging false Val's desk was an ample compensation; and the countess-dowager hugged herself with delight.

Elster's Folly Henry Wood 1850

The countess-dowager would come over for it, and did so; Lord Hartledon could not be discourteous enough to deny this; Lord and Lady Kirton came from Ireland; and for the first time since their marriage they found themselves entertaining guests.

Elster's Folly Henry Wood 1850