adame Goesler
would take the proper steps for putting herself into possession of
the Duke's legacy,--as far as the money was concerned,--with the view
of transferring it to the Duke's niece, Miss Adelaide Palliser. As
for the diamonds, the difficulty could not be solved. Madame Goesler
still refused to take them, and desired her lawyer to instruct her
as to the form by which she could most thoroughly and conclusively
renounce that legacy.

Gerard Maule had his ideas about the meeting which would of course
take place at Matching. He would not, he thought, have been asked
there had it not been intended that he should marry Adelaide. He did
not care much for the grandeur of the Duke and Duchess, but he was
conscious of certain profitable advantages which might accrue from
such an acknowledgement of his position from the great relatives of
his intended bride. It would be something to be married from the
house of the Duchess, and to receive his wife from the Duke's hand.
His father would probably be driven to acquiesce, and people who were
almost omnipotent in the world would at any rate give him a start.
He expected no money; nor did he possess that character, whether it
be good or bad, which is given to such expectation. But there would
be encouragement, and the thing would probably be done. As for the
meeting,--he would take her in his arms if he found her alone, and
beg her pardon for that cross word about Boulogne. He would assure
her that Boulogne itself would be a heaven to him if she were with
him,--and he thought that she would believe him. When he reached the
house he was asked into a room in which a lot of people were playing
billiards or crowded round a billiard-table. The Chilterns were gone,
and he was at first ill at ease, finding no friend. Madame Goesler,
who had met him at Harrington, came up to him, and told him that
the Duchess would be there directly, and then Phineas, who had been
playing at the moment of his entrance, shook hands with him, and said
a word or two about the Chilterns. "I was so delighted to hear of
your acquittal," said Maule.

"We never talk about that now," said Phineas, going back to his
stroke. Adelaide Palliser was not present, and the difficulty of
the meeting had not yet been encountered. They all remained in the
billiard-room till it was time for the ladies to dress, and Adelaide
had not yet ventured to show herself. Somebody offered to take him to
his room, and he was conduct