le had seen something of foreign courts and
much of foreign scenery, and had perhaps perfected their French. The
Duke had gone to work at his travels with a full determination to
create for himself occupation out of a new kind of life. He had
studied Dante, and had striven to arouse himself to ecstatic joy
amidst the loveliness of the Italian lakes. But through it all he
had been aware that he had failed. The Duchess had made no such
resolution,--had hardly, perhaps, made any attempt; but, in truth,
they had both sighed to be back among the war-trumpets. They had both
suffered much among the trumpets, and yet they longed to return. He
told himself from day to day, that though he had been banished from
the House of Commons, still, as a peer, he had a seat in Parliament,
and that, though he was no longer a minister, still he might be
useful as a legislator. She, in her career as a leader of fashion,
had no doubt met with some trouble,--with some trouble but with no
disgrace; and as she had been carried about among the lakes and
mountains, among the pictures and statues, among the counts and
countesses, she had often felt that there was no happiness except in
that dominion which circumstances had enabled her to achieve once,
and might enable her to achieve again--in the realms of London
society.

Then, in the early spring of 187--, they came back to England, having
persistently carried out their project, at any rate in regard to
time. Lord Gerald, the younger son, was at once sent up to Trinity.
For the eldest son a seat was to be found in the House of Commons,
and the fact that a dissolution of Parliament was expected served to
prevent any prolonged sojourn abroad. Lady Mary Palliser was at that
time nineteen, and her entrance into the world was to be her mother's
great care and great delight. In March they spent a few days in
London, and then went down to Matching Priory. When she left town the
Duchess was complaining of cold, sore throat, and debility. A week
after their arrival at Matching she was dead.

Had the heavens fallen and mixed themselves with the earth, had the
people of London risen in rebellion with French ideas of equality,
had the Queen persistently declined to comply with the constitutional
advice of her ministers, had a majority in the House of Commons lost
its influence in the country,--the utter prostration of the bereft
husband could not have been more complete. It was not only that his
heart was