Palliser?"
"No,--it's nothing about the hunting. He wants to know if you'd mind
his staying here three or four days longer."
"What a very odd request!"
"It is odd, because he was to have gone to-morrow. I suppose there's
no objection."
"Of course not if you like to have him."
"I don't like it a bit," said Lord Chiltern; "but I couldn't turn him
out. And I know what it means."
"What does it mean?"
"You haven't observed anything?"
"I have observed nothing in Mr. Spooner, except an awe-struck horror
at the trapping of a fox."
"He's going to propose to Adelaide Palliser."
"Oswald! You are not in earnest."
"I believe he is. He would have told me if he thought I could give
him the slightest encouragement. You can't very well turn him out
now."
"He'll get an answer that he won't like if he does," said Lady
Chiltern.
Miss Palliser had ridden well on that day, and so had Gerard Maule.
That Mr. Spooner should ride well to hounds was quite a matter of
course. It was the business of his life to do so, and he did it with
great judgment.
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