orld, but I
should have been silent about him. With Violet of course her husband
is the first object. It would certainly be so from her nature. And so
Oswald is quite tame?"

"I don't know that he is very tame out hunting."

"But to her?"

"I should think always. She, you know, is very clever."

"So clever!"

"And would be sure to steer clear of all offence," said Phineas,
enthusiastically.

"While I could never for an hour avoid it. Did they say anything
about the journey to Flanders?"

"Chiltern did, frequently. He made me strip my shoulder to show him
the place where he hit me."

"How like Oswald!"

"And he told me that he would have given one of his eyes to kill me,
only Colepepper wouldn't let him go on. He half quarrelled with his
second, but the man told him that I had not fired at him, and the
thing must drop. 'It's better as it is, you know,' he said. And I
agreed with him."

"And how did Violet receive you?"

"Like an angel,--as she is."

"Well, yes. I'll grant she is an angel now. I was angry with her
once, you know. You men find so many angels in your travels. You have
been honester than some. You have generally been off with the old
angel before you were on with the new,--as far at least as I knew."

"Is that meant for rebuke, Lady Laura?"

"No, my friend; no. That is all over. I said to myself when you told
me that you would come, that I would not utter one ill-natured word.
And I told myself more than that!"

"What more?"

"That you had never deserved it,--at least from me. But surely you
were the most simple of men."

"I dare say."

"Men when they are true are simple. They are often false as hell,
and then they are crafty as Lucifer. But the man who is true judges
others by himself,--almost without reflection. A woman can be true as
steel and cunning at the same time. How cunning was Violet, and yet
she never deceived one of her lovers, even by a look. Did she?"

"She never deceived me,--if you mean that. She never cared a straw
about me, and told me so to my face very plainly."

"She did care,--many straws. But I think she always loved Oswald. She
refused him again and again, because she thought it wrong to run a
great risk, but I knew she would never marry any one else. How little
Lady Baldock understood her. Fancy your meeting Lady Baldock at
Oswald's house!"

"Fancy Augusta Boreham turning nun!"

"How exquisitely grotesque it must have been when she made her
complaint