back him, giving
excellent dinners at the same time in Park Lane, would not the world
praise him very loudly?

When he got to his office he found a note from Lord Brentford
inviting him to dine in Portman Square.

CHAPTER LXVIII

The Joint Attack

The note from Lord Brentford surprised our hero not a little. He had
had no communication with the Earl since the day on which he had been
so savagely scolded about the duel, when the Earl had plainly told
him that his conduct had been as bad as it could be. Phineas had not
on that account become at all ashamed of his conduct in reference to
the duel, but he had conceived that any reconciliation between him
and the Earl had been out of the question. Now there had come a
civilly-worded invitation, asking him to dine with the offended
nobleman. The note had been written by Lady Laura, but it had
purported to come from Lord Brentford himself. He sent back word to
say that he should be happy to have the honour of dining with Lord
Brentford.

Parliament at this time had been sitting nearly a month, and it was
already March. Phineas had heard nothing of Lady Laura, and did not
even know that she was in London till he saw her handwriting. He did
not know that she had not gone back to her husband, and that she had
remained with her father all the winter at Saulsby. He had also
heard that Lord Chiltern had been at Saulsby. All the world had been
talking of the separation of Mr. Kennedy from his wife, one half of
the world declaring that his wife, if not absolutely false to him,
had neglected all her duties; and the other half asserting that Mr.
Kennedy's treatment of his wife had been so bad that no woman could
possibly have lived with him. There had even been a rumour that Lady
Laura had gone off with a lover from the Duke of Omnium's garden
party, and some indiscreet tongue had hinted that a certain unmarried
Under-Secretary of State was missing at the same time. But Lord
Chiltern upon this had shown his teeth with so strong a propensity to
do some real biting, that no one had ventured to repeat that rumour.
Its untruth was soon established by the fact that Lady Laura Kennedy
was living with her father at Saulsby. Of Mr. Kennedy, Phineas had as
yet seen nothing since he had been up in town. That gentleman, though
a member of the Cabinet, had not been in London at the opening of the
session, nor had he attended the Cabinet meetings during the recess.
It had been state