l of the four-in-hand in London; upon which he
thought a great deal depended. They had driven out of town early, and
if they drove back late they would not be seen, as all the cacklers were
sure then to be dressing for dinner, and he would not pass the Clubs. 'I
couldn't suggest it,' he said. 'But Dannisburgh's an old hand. But they
say he snaps his fingers at tattle, and laughs. Well, it doesn't matter
for him, perhaps, but a game of two.... Oh! it'll be all right. They
can't reach London before dusk. And the cat's away.'

'It's more than ever incomprehensible to me how she could have married
that man,' said his wife.

'I've long since given it up,' said he.

Diana wrote her thanks for the delightful welcome, telling of her drive
home to smoke and solitude, with a new host of romantic sensations to
keep her company. She wrote thrice in the week, and the same addition of
one to the ordinary number next week. Then for three weeks not a line.
Sir Lukin brought news from London that Warwick had returned, nothing
to explain the silence. A letter addressed to The Crossways was likewise
unnoticed. The supposition that they must be visiting on a round,
appeared rational; but many weeks elapsed, until Sir Lukin received a
printed sheet in the superscription of a former military comrade,
who had marked a paragraph. It was one of those journals, now barely
credible, dedicated to the putrid of the upper circle, wherein initials
raised sewer-lamps, and Asmodeus lifted a roof, leering hideously.
Thousands detested it, and fattened their crops on it. Domesticated
beasts of superior habits to the common will indulge themselves with a
luxurious roll in carrion, for a revival of their original instincts.
Society was largely a purchaser. The ghastly thing was dreaded as a
scourge, hailed as a refreshment, nourished as a parasite. It professed
undaunted honesty, and operated in the fashion of the worms bred of
decay. Success was its boasted justification. The animal world, when not
rigorously watched, will always crown with success the machine supplying
its appetites. The old dog-world took signal from it. The one-legged
devil-god waved his wooden hoof, and the creatures in view, the hunt was
uproarious. Why should we seem better than we are? down with hypocrisy,
cried the censor morum, spicing the lamentable derelictions of this and
that great person, male and female. The plea of corruption of blood in
the world, to excuse the public c