k.

This occurred about the first week in January. The Duke was then
at Matching with his wife and a very small party. The singular
arrangement which had been effected by the Duchess in the early
autumn had passed off without any wonderful effects. It had been done
by her in pique, and the result had been apparently so absurd that it
had at first frightened her. But in the end it answered very well.
The Duke took great pleasure in Lady Rosina's company, and enjoyed
the comparative solitude which enabled him to work all day without
interruption. His wife protested that it was just what she liked,
though it must be feared that she soon became weary of it. To Lady
Rosina it was of course a Paradise on earth. In September, Phineas
Finn and his wife came to them, and in October there were other
relaxations and other business. The Prime Minister and his wife
visited their Sovereign, and he made some very useful speeches
through the country on his old favourite subject of decimal coinage.
At Christmas, for a fortnight, they went to Gatherum Castle and
entertained the neighbourhood,--the nobility and squirearchy dining
there on one day, and the tenants and other farmers on another. All
this went very smoothly, and the Duke did not become outrageously
unhappy because the "People's Banner" made sundry severe remarks on
the absence of Cabinet Councils through the autumn.

After Christmas they returned to Matching, and had some of their old
friends with them. There was the Duke of St. Bungay and the Duchess,
and Phineas Finn and his wife, and Lord and Lady Cantrip, Barrington
Erle, and one or two others. But at this period there came a great
trouble. One morning as the Duke sat in his own room after breakfast
he read an article in the "People's Banner," of which the following
sentences were a part. "We wish to know by whom were paid the
expenses incurred by Mr. Ferdinand Lopez during the late contest
at Silverbridge. It may be that they were paid by that gentleman
himself,--in which case we shall have nothing further to say, not
caring at the present moment to inquire whether those expenses were
or were not excessive. It may be that they were paid by subscription
among his political friends,--and if so, again we shall be satisfied.
Or it is possible that funds were supplied by a new political club of
which we have lately heard much, and with the action of such a body
we of course have nothing to do. If an assurance can be given t