'
'Yes; you do. And what business have to you interfere?'
'None at all;--certainly. I will never do it again.'
'Don't say that, Lord Silverbridge. You ought to have more mercy
on me. You ought to put up with anything from me,--knowing how much
I suffer.'
'I will put up with anything,' said he.
'Do, do. And now I will try to talk to Mr Erle.'
Miss Boncassen was sitting on the other side of the table, between
Mr Monk and Phineas Finn, and throughout the dinner talked mock
politics with the greatest liveliness. Silverbridge when he
entered the room had gone round the table and shaken hands with
everyone. But there had no other greeting between him and Isabel,
nor had any sign passed from one to the other. No such greeting or
sign had been possible. Nothing had been left undone which she had
expected, or hoped. But, though she was lively, nevertheless she
kept her eye upon her lover and Lady Mabel. Lady Mary had said
that she thought her brother was in love with Lady Mabel. Could it
be possible? In her own land she had heard absurd stories,
stories which had seemed to her to be absurd,--of the treachery of
Lords and Countesses, of the baseness of aristocrats, of the
iniquities of high life in London.
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