stay a few days, and Lord George wrote another soon
after to say he was sorry, but that they must return the same evening.
The O'Joscelyns would be delighted; Mat Tierney would be very proud;
Captain Cokely would do himself the honour; and, last but not least,
Mr. Murray would preside below stairs--for a serious consideration.

What a pity so much trouble should have been taken! They might all have
stayed at home; for Fanny Wyndham will never become Lady Kilcullen.

XXX. LORD KILCULLEN OBEYS HIS FATHER

On the appointed day, or rather on the night of the appointed day, Lord
Kilcullen reached Grey Abbey; for it was about eleven o'clock when his
travelling-phaeton rattled up to the door. He had been expected to
dinner at seven, and the first attempts of Murray in the kitchens of
Grey Abbey had been kept waiting for him till half-past eight; but in
vain. At that hour the earl, black with ill-humour, ordered dinner;
and remarked that he considered it criminal in any man to make an
appointment, who was not sufficiently attached to veracity to keep it.

The evening was passed in moody silence. The countess was disappointed,
for she always contrived to persuade herself that she was very anxious
to see her son. Lady Selina was really vexed, and began to have her
doubts as to her brother's coming at all: what was to be done, if it
turned out that all the company had been invited for nothing? As to
Fanny, though very indifferent to the subject of her cousin's coming,
she was not at all in a state of mind to dissipate the sullenness which
prevailed. The ladies went to bed early, the countess grumbling at her
lot, in not being allowed to see her son, and her daughter and niece
marching off with their respective candlesticks in solemn silence. The
earl retired to his book-room soon afterwards; but he had not yet sat
down, when the quick rattle of the wheels was heard upon the gravel
before the house.

Lord Cashel walked out into the hall, prepared to meet his son in a
befitting manner; that is, with a dignified austerity that could not
fail to convey a rebuke even to his hardened heart. But he was balked
in his purpose, for he found that Lord Kilcullen was not alone; Mat
Tierney had come down with him. Kilcullen had met his friend in Dublin,
and on learning that he also was bound for Grey Abbey on the day but
one following, had persuaded him to accelerate his visit, had waited
for him, and brought him down in his own ca