come his friends, and his
thorough friendships were almost all with women. He and Lord Chiltern
regarded each other with warm affection; but there was hardly ground
for real sympathy between them. It was the same with Mr. Low and
Barrington Erle. Were he to die there would be no gap in their
lives;--were they to die there would be none in his. But with Violet
Effingham,--as he still loved to call her to himself,--he thought it
would be different. When the carriage stopped at the hall door he was
thinking of her rather than of Lady Laura Kennedy.

He was shown at once to his bedroom,--the very room in which he had
written the letter to Lord Chiltern which had brought about the duel
at Blankenberg. He was told that he would find Lady Laura in the
drawing-room waiting for dinner for him. The Earl had already dined.

"I am so glad you are come," said Lady Laura, welcoming him. "Papa is
not very well and dined early, but I have waited for you, of course.
Of course I have. You did not suppose I would let you sit down alone?
I would not see you before you dressed because I knew that you must
be tired and hungry, and that the sooner you got down the better. Has
it not been hot?"

"And so dusty! I only left Matching yesterday, and seem to have been
on the railway ever since."

"Government officials have to take frequent journeys, Mr. Finn. How
long will it be before you have to go down to Scotland twice in one
week, and back as often to form a Ministry? Your next journey must be
into the dining-room;--in making which will you give me your arm?"

She was, he thought, lighter in heart and pleasanter in manner than
she had been since her return from Dresden. When she had made her
little joke about his future ministerial duties the servant had been
in the room, and he had not, therefore, stopped her by a serious
answer. And now she was solicitous about his dinner,--anxious that
he should enjoy the good things set before him, as is the manner of
loving women, pressing him to take wine, and playing the good hostess
in all things. He smiled, and ate, and drank, and was gracious
under her petting; but he had a weight on his bosom, knowing, as
he did, that he must say that before long which would turn all
her playfulness either to anger or to grief. "And who had you at
Matching?" she asked.

"Just the usual set."

"Minus the poor old Duke?"

"Yes; minus the old Duke certainly. The greatest change is in the
name. Lady Glencora