should
I cut myself off from a whole host of beautiful things not to be got
outside her? But the next day--_vive_ Elsmere and the Revolution! If
only Elsmere could persuade me intellectually! But I never yet came
across a religious novelty that seemed to me to have a leg of logic to
stand on!'

He laid his hand on Robert's shoulder, his eyes twinkling with a sudden
energy. Robert made no answer. He stood erect, frowning a little, his
hands thrust far into the pockets of his light gray coat. He was in no
mood to disclose himself to Flaxman. The inner vision was fixed with
extraordinary intensity on quite another sort of antagonist with whom
the mind was continuously grappling.

'Ah, well--till to-morrow!' said Flaxman, with a smile, shook hands, and
went.

Outside he hailed a cab and drove off to Lady Charlotte's.

He found his aunt and Mr. Wynnstay in the drawing-room alone, one on
either side of the fire. Lady Charlotte was reading the latest political
biography with an apparent profundity of attention; Mr. Wynnstay was
lounging and caressing the cat. But both his aunt's absorption and
Mr. Wynnstay's nonchalance seemed to Flaxman overdone. He suspected a
domestic breeze.

Lady Charlotte made him effusively welcome. He had come to propose that
she should accompany him the following evening to hear Elsmere lecture.

'I advise you to come,' he said. 'Elsmere will deliver his soul, and
the amount of soul he has to deliver in these dull days is astounding.
A dowdy dress and a veil, of course. I will go down beforehand and see
some one on the spot, in case there should be difficulties about getting
in. Perhaps Miss Leyburn, too, might like to hear her brother-in-law?'

'_Really_, Hugh,' cried Lady Charlotte impatiently, 'I think you might
take your snubbing with dignity. Her refusal this morning to go to
Greenlaws was brusqueness itself. To my mind that young person gives
herself airs!' And the Duke of Sedbergh's sister drew herself up with a
rustle of all her ample frame.

'Yes, I was snubbed,' said Flaxman, unperturbed; 'that, however, is no
reason why she shouldn't find it attractive to go to-morrow night.'

'And you will let her see that, just because you couldn't get hold of
her, you have given up your Easter party and left your sister in the
lurch?'

'I never had excessive notions of dignity,' he replied composedly. 'You
may make up any story you please. The real fact is that I want to hear
Elsmere.'

'Y