simply an affair of age,--nor of
good looks, nor altogether of education. Gerard Maule was by no means
wonderfully erudite. They were both addicted to hunting. Neither
of them did anything useful. In that respect Mr. Spooner stood the
higher, as he managed his own property successfully. But Gerard Maule
so wore his clothes, and so carried his limbs, and so pronounced his
words that he was to be regarded as one entitled to make love to any
lady; whereas poor Mr. Spooner was not justified in proposing to
marry any woman much more gifted than his own housemaid. Such, at
least, were Adelaide Palliser's ideas. "I don't think anything of the
kind," she said, "only I want you to go away. I shall go back to the
house, and I hope you won't accompany me. If you do, I shall turn
the other way." Whereupon she did retire at once, and he was left
standing in the path.

There was a seat there, and he sat down for a moment to think of it
all. Should he persevere in his suit, or should he rejoice that he
had escaped from such an ill-conditioned minx? He remembered that he
had read, in his younger days, that lovers in novels generally do
persevere, and that they are almost always successful at last. In
affairs of the heart, such perseverance was, he thought, the correct
thing. But in this instance the conduct of the lady had not given him
the slightest encouragement. When a horse balked with him at a fence,
it was his habit to force the animal till he jumped it,--as the groom
had recommended Phineas to do. But when he had encountered a decided
fall, it was not sensible practice to ride the horse at the same
place again. There was probably some occult cause for failure.
He could not but own that he had been thrown on the present
occasion,--and upon the whole, he thought that he had better give it
up. He found his way back to the house, put up his things, and got
away to Spoon Hall in time for dinner, without seeing Lady Chiltern
or any of her guests.

"What has become of Mr. Spooner?" Maule asked, as soon as he returned
to Harrington Hall.

"Nobody knows," said Lady Chiltern, "but I believe he has gone."

"Has anything happened?"

"I have heard no tidings; but, if you ask for my opinion, I think
something has happened. A certain lady seems to have been ruffled,
and a certain gentleman has disappeared. I am inclined to think that
a few unsuccessful words have been spoken." Gerard Maule saw that
there was a smile in her eye, and he