on the head
with his club."

"Call on the Earl yourself."

"I did, and he would not see me."

"Write to him."

"I did, and he sent back my letter unopened."

"Write to her."

"I did;--and she answered me, saying only thus; 'Indeed, indeed, it
cannot be so.' But it must be so. The laws of God require it, and the
laws of man permit it. I want some one to point out that to them more
softly than I could do if I were simply to write to that effect. To
the Earl, of course, I cannot write again." The conference ended by a
promise from Phineas that he would, if possible, say a word to Lady
Laura.

When he was shown into Lord Brentford's drawing-room he found not
only Lady Laura there, but her brother. Lord Brentford was not in
the room. Barrington Erle was there, and so also were Lord and Lady
Cantrip.

"Is not your father going to be here?" he said to Lady Laura, after
their first greeting.

"We live in that hope," said she, "and do not at all know why he
should be late. What has become of him, Oswald?"

"He came in with me half an hour ago, and I suppose he does not
dress as quickly as I do," said Lord Chiltern; upon which Phineas
immediately understood that the father and the son were reconciled,
and he rushed to the conclusion that Violet and her lover would also
soon be reconciled, if such were not already the case. He felt some
remnant of a soreness that it should be so, as a man feels where
his headache has been when the real ache itself has left him. Then
the host came in and made his apologies. "Chiltern kept me standing
about," he said, "till the east wind had chilled me through and
through. The only charm I recognise in youth is that it is impervious
to the east wind." Phineas felt quite sure now that Violet and her
lover were reconciled, and he had a distinct feeling of the place
where the ache had been. Dear Violet! But, after all, Violet lacked
that sweet, clinging, feminine softness which made Mary Flood Jones
so pre-eminently the most charming of her sex. The Earl, when he had
repeated his general apology, especially to Lady Cantrip, who was the
only lady present except his daughter, came up to our hero and shook
him kindly by the hand. He took him up to one of the windows and then
addressed him in a voice of mock solemnity.

"Stick to the colonies, young man," he said, "and never meddle with
foreign affairs;--especially not at Blankenberg."

"Never again, my Lord;--never again."

"And leave