all this very well. It
was not the first occasion on which Mr Fothergill had given him
advice,--advice such as Mr Fothergill himself had no right to give
him. He always received such counsel with an air of half-injured
dignity, intending thereby to explain to Mr Fothergill that he was
intruding. But he knew well whence the advice came; and though, in
all such cases, he had made up his mind not to follow such counsel,
it had generally come to pass that Mr Palliser's conduct had more or
less accurately conformed itself to Mr Fothergill's advice. A word
from the duke might certainly do a great deal! Mr Palliser resolved
that in that affair of Lady Dumbello he would follow his own devices.
But, nevertheless, it was undoubtedly true that a word from the duke
might do a great deal!

We, who are in the secret, know how far Mr Palliser had already
progressed in his iniquitous passion before he left Hartlebury.
Others, who were perhaps not so well informed, gave him credit for
a much more advanced success. Lady Clandidlem, in her letter to
Lady de Courcy, written immediately after the departure of Mr
Palliser, declared that, having heard of that gentleman's intended
matutinal departure, she had confidently expected to learn at the
breakfast-table that Lady Dumbello had flown with him. From the tone
of her ladyship's language, it seemed as though she had been robbed
of an anticipated pleasure by Lady Dumbello's prolonged sojourn
in the halls of her husband's ancestors. "I feel, however, quite
convinced," said Lady Clandidlem, "that it cannot go on longer than
the spring. I never yet saw a man so infatuated as Mr Palliser. He
did not leave her for one moment all the time he was here. No one
but Lady Hartletop would have permitted it. But, you know, there is
nothing so pleasant as good old family friendships."

CHAPTER XLIV

Valentine's Day at Allington

Lily had exacted a promise from her mother before her illness,
and during the period of her convalescence often referred to it,
reminding her mother that that promise had been made, and must be
kept. Lily was to be told the day on which Crosbie was to be married.
It had come to the knowledge of them all that the marriage was to
take place in February. But this was not sufficient for Lily. She
must know the day.

And as the time drew nearer,--Lily becoming stronger the while,
and less subject to medical authority,--the marriage of Crosbie and
Alexandrina was spoken