"
CHAPTER XV
"How well you knew!"
It was necessary also that some communication should be made to
Phineas, so that he might not come across Madame Goesler unawares.
Lady Chiltern was more alive to that necessity than she had been to
the other, and felt that the gentleman, if not warned of what was to
take place, would be much more likely than the lady to be awkward at
the trying moment. Madame Goesler would in any circumstances be sure
to recover her self-possession very quickly, even were she to lose it
for a moment; but so much could hardly be said for the social powers
of Phineas Finn. Lady Chiltern therefore contrived to see him alone
for a moment on his arrival. "Who do you think is here?"
"Lady Laura has not come!"
"Indeed, no; I wish she had. An old friend, but not so old as Laura!"
"I cannot guess;--not Lord Fawn?"
"Lord Fawn! What would Lord Fawn do here? Don't you know that Lord
Fawn goes nowhere since his last matrimonial trouble? It's a friend
of yours, not of mine."
"Madame Goesler?" whispered Phineas.
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