ate in furtherance of his wishes,
and, could he have had his way, he certainly would have sent Mr.
Fothergill to the gallows. Now, Miss Palliser, who was still staying
at Lord Chiltern's house, was niece to the old Duke, and first cousin
to the heir. "They are nothing to me," she said once, when Lord
Chiltern had attempted to apologise for the abuse he was heaping on
her relatives. "I haven't seen the Duke since I was a little child,
and I shouldn't know my cousin were I to meet him."

"So much the more gracious is your condition," said Lady
Chiltern,--"at any rate in Oswald's estimation."

"I know them, and once spent a couple of days at Matching with them,"
said Lord Chiltern. "The Duke is an old fool, who always gave himself
greater airs than any other man in England,--and as far as I can see,
with less to excuse them. As for Planty Pall, he and I belong so
essentially to different orders of things, that we can hardly be
reckoned as being both men."

"And which is the man, Lord Chiltern?"

"Whichever you please, my dear; only not both. Doggett was over there
yesterday, and found three separate traps."

"What did he do with the traps?" said Lady Chiltern.

"I wasn't fool enough to ask him, but I don't in the least doubt that
he threw them into the water--or that he'd throw Palliser there too
if he could get hold of him. As for taking the hounds to Trumpeton
again, I wouldn't do it if there were not another covert in the
country."

"Then leave it so, and have done with it," said his wife. "I wouldn't
fret as you do for what another man did with his own property, for
all the foxes in England."

"That is because you understand nothing of hunting, my dear. A man's
property is his own in one sense, but isn't his own in another. A man
can't do what he likes with his coverts."

"He can cut them down."

"But he can't let another pack hunt them, and he can't hunt them
himself. If he's in a hunting county he is bound to preserve foxes."

"What binds him, Oswald? A man can't be bound without a penalty."

"I should think it penalty enough for everybody to hate me. What are
you going to do about Phineas Finn?"

"I have asked him to come on the 1st and stay till Parliament meets."

"And is that woman coming?"

"There are two or three women coming."

"She with the German name, whom you made me dine with in Park Lane?"

"Madame Max Goesler is coming. She brings her own horses, and they
will stand at Doggett's."