“Nothing of the kind.  He would marry her to-morrow if he could.  My belief is that Miss Effingham is sincere in refusing him.”

“I don’t doubt her sincerity.”

“And that she will never change.”

“Ah, well; I don’t agree with you, and I daresay I know them both better than you do.  But everything goes against me.  I had set my heart upon it, and therefore of course I shall be disappointed.  What is he going to do this autumn?”

“He is yachting now.”

“And who are with him?”

“I think the boat belongs to Captain Colepepper.”

“The greatest blackguard in all England!  A man who shoots pigeons and rides steeple-chases!  And the worst of Chiltern is this, that even if he didn’t like the man, and if he were tired of this sort of life, he would go on just the same because he thinks it a fine thing not to give way.”  This was so true that Phineas did not dare to contradict the statement, and therefore said nothing.  “I had some faint hope,” continued the Earl, “while Laura could always watch him; because, in his way, he was fond of his sister.  But that is all over now.  She will have enough to do to watch herself!”

Phineas had felt that the Earl had put him down rather sharply when he had said that Violet would never accept Lord Chiltern, and he was therefore not a little surprised when Lord Brentford spoke again of Miss Effingham the following morning, holding in his hand a letter which he had just received from her.  “They are to be at Loughlinter on the tenth,” he said, “and she purposes to come here for a couple of nights on her way.”

“Lady Baldock and all?”

“Well, yes; Lady Baldock and all.  I am not very fond of Lady Baldock, but I will put up with her for a couple of days for the sake of having Violet.  She is more like a child of my own now than anybody else.  I shall not see her all the autumn afterwards.  I cannot stand Loughlinter.”

“It will be better when the house is full.”

“You will be there, I suppose?”

“Well, no; I think not,” said Phineas.

“You have had enough of it, have you?” Phineas made no reply to this, but smiled slightly.  “By Jove, I don’t wonder at it,” said the Earl.  Phineas, who would have given all he had in the world to be staying in the same country house with Violet Effingham, could not explain how it had come to pass that he was obliged to absent himself.  “I suppose you were asked?” said the Earl.

“Oh, yes, I was asked.  Nothing can be kinder than they are.”

“Kennedy told me that you were coming as a matter of course.”

“I explained to him after that,” said Phineas, “that I should not return.  I shall go over to Ireland.  I have a deal of hard reading to do, and I can get through it there without interruption.”