y will think we are taking plans
of the place. Are you cold?"

"I have not thought about the cold."

"Nor have I. We will go down to the inn and warm ourselves before the
train comes. I wonder why I should have brought you here to tell you
my story. Oh, Phineas." Then she threw herself into his arms, and he
pressed her to his heart, and kissed first her forehead and then her
lips. "It shall never be so again," she said. "I will kill it out
of my heart even though I should crucify my body. But it is not my
love that I will kill. When you are happy I will be happy. When you
prosper I will prosper. When you fail I will fail. When you rise,--as
you will rise,--I will rise with you. But I will never again feel the
pressure of your arm round my waist. Here is the gate, and the old
guide. So, my friend, you see that we are not lost." Then they walked
down the very steep hill to the little town below the fortress, and
there they remained till the evening train came from Prague, and took
them back to Dresden.

Two days after this was the day fixed for Finn's departure. On
the intermediate day the Earl begged for a few minutes' private
conversation with him, and the two were closeted together for an
hour. The Earl, in truth, had little or nothing to say. Things had
so gone with him that he had hardly a will of his own left, and did
simply that which his daughter directed him to do. He pretended to
consult Phineas as to the expediency of his returning to Saulsby.
Did Phineas think that his return would be of any use to the party?
Phineas knew very well that the party would not recognise the
difference whether the Earl lived at Dresden or in London. When a man
has come to the end of his influence as the Earl had done he is as
much a nothing in politics as though he had never risen above that
quantity. The Earl had never risen very high, and even Phineas, with
all his desire to be civil, could not say that the Earl's presence
would materially serve the interests of the Liberal party. He
made what most civil excuses he could, and suggested that if Lord
Brentford should choose to return, Lady Laura would very willingly
remain at Dresden alone. "But why shouldn't she come too?" asked the
Earl. And then, with the tardiness of old age, he proposed his little
plan. "Why should she not make an attempt to live once more with her
husband?"

"She never will," said Phineas.

"But think how much she loses," said the Earl.

"I am quite