rby and Joan kind of thing is what I like."

"Only Darby is to be in an office all day, and in Parliament all
night,--and Joan is to stay at home."

"Would you wish me not to be in an office, and not to be in
Parliament? But don't let us misunderstand each other. You are doing
the best you can to further what you think to be my interests."

"I am," said the Duchess.

"I love you the better for it, day by day." This so surprised her,
that as she took him by the arm, her eyes were filled with tears. "I
know that you are working for me quite as hard as I work myself, and
that you are doing so with the pure ambition of seeing your husband a
great man."

"And myself a great man's wife."

"It is the same thing. But I would not have you overdo your work.
I would not have you make yourself conspicuous by anything like
display. There are ill-natured people who will say things that you do
not expect, and to which I should be more sensitive than I ought to
be. Spare me such pain as this, if you can." He still held her hand
as he spoke, and she answered him only by nodding her head. "I will
go down with you to Gatherum on Friday." Then he left her.

CHAPTER XIX

Vulgarity

The Duke and Duchess with their children and personal servants
reached Gatherum Castle the day before the first crowd of visitors
was expected. It was on a lovely autumn afternoon, and the Duke,
who had endeavoured to make himself pleasant during the journey,
had suggested that as soon as the heat would allow them they would
saunter about the grounds and see what was being done. They could
dine late, at half-past eight or nine, so that they might be walking
from seven to eight. But the Duchess when she reached the Castle
declined to fall into this arrangement. The journey had been hot
and dusty and she was a little cross. They reached the place about
five, and then she declared that she would have a cup of tea and lie
down; she was too tired to walk; and the sun, she said, was still
scorchingly hot. He then asked that the children might go with him;
but the two little girls were weary and travel-worn, and the two
boys, the elder of whom was home from Eton and the younger from
some minor Eton, were already out about the place after their own
pleasures. So the Duke started for his walk alone.

The Duchess certainly did not wish to have to inspect the works in
conjunction with her husband. She knew how much there was that she
ought still to do