Before lunch had come
all the party knew what was to happen,--except Adelaide herself. She,
too, perceived that something was in the wind, that there was some
stir, some discomfort, some secret affair forward, or some event
expected which made them all uneasy;--and she did connect it with
the presence of Mr. Spooner. But, in pitiable ignorance of the facts
that were clear enough to everybody else, she went on watching and
wondering, with a half-formed idea that the house would be more
pleasant as soon as Mr. Spooner should have taken his departure. He
was to go after lunch. But on such occasions there is, of course, a
latitude, and "after lunch" may be stretched at any rate to the five
o'clock tea. At three o'clock Mr. Spooner was still hanging about.
Madame Goesler and Phineas, with an openly declared intention of
friendly intercourse, had gone out to walk together. Lord and Lady
Baldock were on horseback. Two or three old ladies hung over the
fire and gossiped. Lady Chiltern had retired to her baby;--when on a
sudden Adelaide Palliser declared her intention of walking into the
village.
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