val was right in not going home that day
to his dinner.

As the door closed somewhat loudly behind the angry lady--Mr.
Crabwitz having rushed out hardly in time to moderate the violence of
the slam--Lady Mason and her imputed lover were left looking at each
other. It was certainly hard upon Lady Mason, and so she felt it.
Mr. Furnival was fifty-five, and endowed with a bluish nose; and she
was over forty, and had lived for twenty years as a widow without
incurring a breath of scandal.

"I hope I have not been to blame," said Lady Mason in a soft, sad
voice; "but perhaps Mrs. Furnival specially wished to find you
alone."

"No, no; not at all."

"I shall be so unhappy if I think that I have been in the way. If
Mrs. Furnival wished to speak to you on business I am not surprised
that she should be angry, for I know that barristers do not usually
allow themselves to be troubled by their clients in their own
chambers."

"Nor by their wives," Mr. Furnival might have added, but he did not.

"Do not mind it," he said; "it is nothing. She is the best-tempered
woman in the world; but at times it is impossible to answer even for
the best-tempered."

"I will trust you to make my peace with her."

"Yes, of course; she will not think of it after to-day; nor must you,
Lady Mason."

"Oh, no; except that I would not for the world be the cause of
annoyance to my friends. Sometimes I am almost inclined to think that
I will never trouble any one again with my sorrows, but let things
come and go as they may. Were it not for poor Lucius I should do so."

Mr. Furnival, looking into her face, perceived that her eyes were
full of tears. There could be no doubt as to their reality. Her eyes
were full of genuine tears, brimming over and running down; and the
lawyer's heart was melted. "I do not know why you should say so," he
said. "I do not think your friends begrudge any little trouble they
may take for you. I am sure at least that I may so say for myself."

"You are too kind to me; but I do not on that account the less know
how much it is I ask of you."

"'The labour we delight in physics pain,'" said Mr. Furnival
gallantly. "But, to tell the truth, Lady Mason, I cannot understand
why you should be so much out of heart. I remember well how brave and
constant you were twenty years ago, when there really was cause for
trembling."

"Ah, I was younger then."

"So the almanac tells us; but if the almanac did not tell us I should