views and conduct,
published, contradicted, and reiterated, were not sufficient to sustain,
and even stimulate, curiosity. That he was about to return to his native
land, as the Legate of His Holiness, was an event which made many men
look grave, and some female hearts flutter.

The memory of Lady Roehampton could not escape from the past, and she
could not recall it and all the scenes at Hurstley without emotion; and
Lady Montfort remembered with some pride and excitement, that the Legate
of the Pope had been one of her heroes. It was evident that he had no
wish to avoid his old acquaintances, for shortly after his arrival, and
after he had assembled his suffragans, and instructed the clergy of his
district, for dioceses did not then exist, Archbishop Penruddock, for so
the Metropolitan of Tyre simply styled himself, called upon both these
ladies.

His first visit was to Myra, and notwithstanding her disciplined
self-control, her intense pride, and the deep and daring spirit which
always secretly sustained her, she was nervous and agitated, but only in
her boudoir. When she entered the saloon to welcome him, she seemed as
calm as if she were going to an evening assembly.

Nigel was changed. Instead of that anxious and moody look which formerly
marred the refined beauty of his countenance, his glance was calm and
yet radiant. He was thinner, it might almost be said emaciated, which
seemed to add height to his tall figure.

Lady Roehampton need not have been nervous about the interview, and the
pain of its inevitable associations. Except one allusion at the end of
his visit, when his Grace mentioned some petty grievance, of which he
wished to relieve his clergy, and said, "I think I will consult your
brother; being in the opposition, he will be less embarrassed than some
of my friends in the government, or their supporters," he never referred
to the past. All he spoke of was the magnitude of his task, the immense
but inspiring labours which awaited him, and his deep sense of his
responsibility. Nothing but the Divine principle of the Church could
sustain him. He was at one time hopeful that His Holiness might have
thought the time ripe for the restoration of the national hierarchy, but
it was decreed otherwise. Had it been accorded, no doubt it would
have assisted him. A prelate _in partibus_ is, in a certain sense, a
stranger, whatever his duties, and the world is more willing when it
is appealed to by one who has "