woman
in the world to let a word on such a matter pass her lips; but not
the less was she conscious of her merit towards him. And she had been
led to act as she had done by sincere admiration for the man. In all
their political troubles, she had understood him better than the
Duchess had done. Looking on from a distance she had understood the
man's character as it had come to her both from his wife and from her
own husband.

That he was unjust to her,--cruelly unjust, she was quite sure. He
accused her of intentional privity to a secret which it behoved him
to know, and of being a party to that secrecy. Whereas from the
moment in which she had heard the secret she had determined that it
must be made known to him. She felt that she had deserved his good
opinion in all things, but in nothing more than in the way in which
she had acted in this matter. And yet he had treated her with an
imperious harshness which amounted to insolence. What a letter it was
that he had written to her! The very tips of her ears tingled with
heat as she read it again to herself. None of the ordinary courtesies
of epistle-craft had been preserved either in the beginning or in
the end. It was worse even than if he had called her Madam without
an epithet. "The Duke understands--" "The Duke thinks--" "The Duke
feels--" feels that he should not be troubled with either letters or
conversation; the upshot of it all being that the Duke declared her
to have shown herself unworthy of being treated like a lady! And this
after all that she had done!

She would not bear it. That at present was all that she could say
to herself. She was not angry with Lady Mary. She did not doubt but
that the girl had done the best in her power to bring her father
to reason. But because Lady Mary had failed, she, Mrs. Finn,
was not going to put up with so grievous an injury. And she was
forced to bear all this alone! There was none with whom she could
communicate;--no one from whom she could ask advice. She would not
bring her husband into a quarrel which might be prejudicial to his
position as a member of his political party. There was no one else to
whom she would tell the secret of Lady Mary's love. And yet she could
not bear this injustice done to her.

Then she wrote as follows to the Duke:

Mrs. Finn presents her compliments to the Duke of Omnium.
Mrs. Finn finds it to be essential to her that she should
see the Duke in reference to his letter to her.