d of Agnes. A regiment of
relatives drove him into the engagement. Now it has come to an end--let
us thank God!"

"Your own conscience is easy, I take it?"

"You have no right to ask such a question--none at all."

"Some men, you know, can be laughed out of their loves," he continued.

"Timorous men--yes! Is Reckage timorous?"

"You turned that most adroitly."

"Thank you. Please sit between Lady Augusta and Aumerle at dinner."

The dinner passed most agreeably. As little as possible was said about
the Meeting; each talked to his or her neighbour, and although the
separate dialogues may have been profound, the general effect produced
was one of restful flippancy. Pole-Knox remarked over his fish that
England had little to fear--unless through the corruption of her
religion, whereupon Penborough declared that religion in the country was
a School, not a Church. To this Lady Augusta rejoined that Rome's
strength depended merely on Canterbury's weakness.

"Forcing a change is a very ticklish business," said Aumerle, studying
the menu, and regretting that his digestion was not all it had been.

Lord Garrow deplored the fact that Mr. Gladstone had embarked on a very
vulgar and very false policy.

"But its vulgarity," he sighed, "gives it a very easy reception."

"He expects everything except docility," said Penborough; "if the
Opposition employ that means, they will embarrass all his calculations."

Reckage, meanwhile, was confiding to Sara--

"I turned the horse round, rammed my spurs in, and put him at the rails
again!"

One statement, made by Penborough, caused a flutter.

"If Catherine of Arragon had been immoral and Mary Stuart virtuous, the
whole course of European History would have been different. The
Reformation, for instance, would have found no favour in England."

"That's _very_ advanced," murmured Lady Larch.

Sara, at dessert, tried to encourage a debate on the egoism of the
Saints compared with the egoism of Montaigne.

"They were selfishly bent on pain and renunciation, he was selfishly
bent on pleasure and indulgence. Isn't that the one difference between
them, Mr. Orange?"

Orange refused to be drawn, but he promised to lend her the _Acta
Sanctorum_ of the Bollandists in sixty volumes in folio.

"After you have read them," said he, "I will tell you my ideas about
Montaigne."

Many other remarks were probably more amusing; these, however, were the
most characteristic.

When dinner