s to take himself off with the rest of the guests, and so great
was her ladyship's sense of the importance of the negotiation, that she
absolutely despatched Griffiths to Dublin to arrange it, though thereby
she was left two whole days in solitary misery at Grey Abbey; and had
to go to bed, and get up, she really hardly knew how, with such
assistance as Lady Selina's maid could give her.

When these things were all arranged, Selina told her cousin that
Adolphus was coming home, and that a house full of company had been
asked to meet him. She was afraid that Fanny would be annoyed and
offended at being forced to go into company so soon after her brother's
death, but such was not the case. She felt, herself, that her poor
brother was not the cause of the grief that was near her heart; and she
would not pretend what she didn't really feel.

"You were quite right, Selina," she said, smiling, "about the things
you said yesterday I should want from Dublin: now, I shall want them;
and, as I wouldn't accept of your good-natured offer, I must take the
trouble of writing myself."

"If you like it, Fanny, I'll write for you," said Selina.

"Oh no, I'm not quite so idle as that"--and she also began her
preparations for the expected festivities. Little did either of them
think that she, Fanny Wyndham, was the sole cause of all the trouble
which the household and neighbourhood were to undergo:--the fatigue of
the countess; Griffiths's journey; the arrival of the dread man cook;
Richards's indignation at being made subordinate to such authority; the
bishop's desertion of the Education Board; the colonel's dangerous and
precipitate consumption of colchicum; the quarrel between Lord and
Lady George as to staying or not staying; the new dresses of the Miss
O'Joscelyns, which their worthy father could so ill afford; and, above
all, the confusion, misery, rage, and astonishment which attended Lord
Kilcullen's unexpected retreat from London, in the middle of the
summer. And all in vain!

How proud and satisfied Lord Ballindine might have been, had he been
able to see all this, and could he have known how futile was every
effort Lord Cashel could make to drive from Fanny Wyndham's heart the
love she felt for him.

The invitations, however, were, generally speaking, accepted. The
bishop and his wife would be most happy; the colonel would come if the
gout would possibly allow; Lady George wrote a note to say they would
be very happy to