arison between
the two men forced itself upon her,--but she drove it from her as she
hurried back to the house.

CHAPTER XVIII

The Duke of Omnium Thinks of Himself

The blaze made by the Duchess of Omnium during the three months of
the season up in London had been very great, but it was little in
comparison with the social coruscation expected to be achieved at
Gatherum Castle,--little at least as far as public report went, and
the general opinion of the day. No doubt the house in Carlton Gardens
had been thrown open as the house of no Prime Minister, perhaps of no
duke, had been opened before in this country; but it had been done by
degrees, and had not been accompanied by such a blowing of trumpets
as was sounded with reference to the entertainments at Gatherum.
I would not have it supposed that the trumpets were blown by the
direct order of the Duchess. The trumpets were blown by the customary
trumpeters as it became known that great things were to be done,--all
newspapers and very many tongues lending their assistance, till the
sounds of the instruments almost frightened the Duchess herself.
"Isn't it odd," she said to her friend, Mrs. Finn, "that one can't
have a few friends down in the country without such a fuss about it
as the people are making?" Mrs. Finn did not think that it was odd,
and so she said. Thousands of pounds were being spent in a very
conspicuous way. Invitations to the place even for a couple of
days,--for twenty-four hours,--had been begged for abjectly. It
was understood everywhere that the Prime Minister was bidding for
greatness and popularity. Of course the trumpets were blown very
loudly. "If people don't take care," said the Duchess, "I'll put
everybody off and have the whole place shut up. I'd do it for
sixpence, now."

Perhaps of all the persons, much or little concerned, the one who
heard the least of the trumpets,--or rather who was the last to hear
them,--was the Duke himself. He could not fail to see something in
the newspapers, but what he did see did not attract him so frequently
or so strongly as it did others. It was a pity, he thought, that
a man's social and private life should be made subject to so many
remarks, but this misfortune was one of those to which wealth and
rank are liable. He had long recognised that fact, and for a time
endeavoured to believe that his intended sojourn at Gatherum Castle
was not more public than are the autumn doings of other dukes a