shop-parlors in Wanchester. For Sir Hugo was a man who
liked to show himself and be affable, a Liberal of good lineage, who
confided entirely in reform as not likely to make any serious
difference in English habits of feeling, one of which undoubtedly is
the liking to behold society well fenced and adorned with hereditary
rank. Hence he made Diplow a most agreeable house, extending his
invitations to old Wanchester solicitors and young village curates, but
also taking some care in the combination of the guests, and not feeding
all the common poultry together, so that they should think their meal
no particular compliment. Easy-going Lord Brackenshaw, for example,
would not mind meeting Robinson the attorney, but Robinson would have
been naturally piqued if he had been asked to meet a set of people who
passed for his equals. On all these points Sir Hugo was well informed
enough at once to gain popularity for himself and give pleasure to
others--two results which eminently suited his disposition. The rector
of Pennicote now found a reception at Diplow very different from the
haughty tolerance he had undergone during the reign of Grandcourt. It
was not that the baronet liked Mr. Gascoigne; it was that he desired to
keep up a marked relation of friendliness with him on account of Mrs.
Grandcourt, for whom Sir Hugo's chivalry had become more and more
engaged. Why? The chief reason was one that he could not fully
communicate, even to Lady Mallinger--for he would not tell what he
thought one woman's secret to another, even though the other was his
wife--which shows that his chivalry included a rare reticence.

Deronda, after he had become engaged to Mirah, felt it right to make a
full statement of his position and purposes to Sir Hugo, and he chose
to make it by letter. He had more than a presentiment that his fatherly
friend would feel some dissatisfaction, if not pain, at this turn of
his destiny. In reading unwelcome news, instead of hearing it, there is
the advantage that one avoids a hasty expression of impatience which
may afterward be repented of. Deronda dreaded that verbal collision
which makes otherwise pardonable feeling lastingly offensive.

And Sir Hugo, though not altogether surprised, was thoroughly vexed.
His immediate resource was to take the letter to Lady Mallinger, who
would be sure to express an astonishment which her husband could argue
against as unreasonable, and in this way divide the stress of his
dis