Then Mrs Dale, in her anxiety to repair what injury might have been done to her daughter by over-exertion, omitted any further mention of the farewell speech.

Dr Crofts as he rode home enjoyed but little of the triumph of a successful lover.  “It may be that she’s right,” he said to himself; “and, at any rate, I’ll ask again.”  Nevertheless, that “No” which Bell had spoken, and had repeated, still sounded in his ears harsh and conclusive.  There are men to whom a peal of noes rattling about their ears never takes the sound of a true denial, and others to whom the word once pronounced, be it whispered ever so softly, comes as though it were an unchangeable verdict from the supreme judgment-seat.

CHAPTER XLIII

Fie, Fie!

Will any reader remember the loves,—­no, not the loves; that word is so decidedly ill-applied as to be incapable of awakening the remembrance of any reader; but the flirtations—­of Lady Dumbello and Mr Plantagenet Palliser?  Those flirtations, as they had been carried on at Courcy Castle, were laid bare in all their enormities to the eye of the public, and it must be confessed that if the eye of the public was shocked, that eye must be shocked very easily.

But the eye of the public was shocked, and people who were particular as to their morals said very strange things.  Lady de Courcy herself said very strange things indeed, shaking her head, and dropping mysterious words; whereas Lady Clandidlem spoke much more openly, declaring her opinion that Lady Dumbello would be off before May.  They both agreed that it would not be altogether bad for Lord Dumbello that he should lose his wife, but shook their heads very sadly when they spoke of poor Plantagenet Palliser.  As to the lady’s fate, that lady whom they had both almost worshipped during the days at Courcy Castle,—­they did not seem to trouble themselves about that.

And it must be admitted that Mr Palliser had been a little imprudent,—­imprudent, that is, if he knew anything about the rumours afloat,—­seeing that soon after his visit at Courcy Castle he had gone down to Lady Hartletop’s place in Shropshire, at which the Dumbellos intended to spend the winter, and on leaving it had expressed his intention of returning in February.  The Hartletop people had pressed him very much,—­the pressure having come with peculiar force from Lord Dumbello.  Therefore it is reasonable to suppose that the Hartletop people had at any rate not heard of the rumour.

Mr Plantagenet Palliser spent his Christmas with his uncle, the Duke of Omnium, at Gatherum Castle.  That is to say, he reached the castle in time for dinner on Christmas eve, and left it on the morning after Christmas day.  This was in accordance with the usual practice of his life, and the tenants, dependants, and followers of the Omnium interest were always delighted to see this manifestation of a healthy English domestic family feeling between the duke and his nephew.  But the amount of intercourse on such occasions between them was generally trifling.  The duke would smile as he put out his right hand to his nephew, and say,—­