'
'If you prefer his guests to me, attend to them.'
'Now, Cadurcis! I ask you as a favour, a favour to me, only for
to-day. Be kind, be amiable, you can if you like; no person can be
more amiable; now, do!'
'I am amiable,' said his lordship; 'I am perfectly satisfied, if you
are. You made me dine here.'
'Now, Cadurcis!'
'Have I not dined here to satisfy you?'
'Yes! It was very kind.'
'But, really, that I should be wearied with all the common-places of
these creatures who come to eat your husband's cutlets, is too much,'
said his lordship. 'And you, Gertrude, what necessity can there be in
your troubling yourself to amuse people whom you meet every day of
your life, and who, from the vulgar perversity of society, value you
in exact proportion as you neglect them?'
'Yes, but to-day I must be attentive; for Henry, with his usual
thoughtlessness, has asked this new bishop to dine with us.'
'The Bishop of----?' inquired Lord Cadurcis, eagerly. 'Is he coming?'
'He has been in the room this quarter of an hour?'
'What, Masham! Doctor Masham!' continued Lord Cadurcis.
'Assuredly.'
Lord Cadurcis changed colour, and even sighed. He rose rather quickly,
and said, 'I must go and speak to him.'
So, quitting Lady Monteagle, he crossed the room, and with all the
simplicity of old days, which instantly returned on him, those
melancholy eyes sparkling with animation, and that languid form quick
with excitement, he caught the Doctor's glance, and shook his extended
hand with a heartiness which astonished the surrounding spectators,
accustomed to the elaborate listlessness of his usual manner.
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