Bonteen.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
Once Again in Portman Square
On the Wednesday in Easter week Lord Brentford and Lady Laura Kennedy
reached Portman Square from Dresden, and Phineas, who had remained in
town, was summoned thither by a note written at Dover. "We arrived
here to-day, and shall be in town to-morrow afternoon, between four
and five. Papa wants to see you especially. Can you manage to be with
us in the Square at about eight? I know it will be inconvenient, but
you will put up with inconvenience. I don't like to keep Papa up
late; and if he is tired he won't speak to you as he would if you
came early.--L. K." Phineas was engaged to dine with Lord Cantrip;
but he wrote to excuse himself,--telling the simple truth. He had
been asked to see Lord Brentford on business, and must obey the
summons.
He was shown into a sitting-room on the ground floor, which he
had always known as the Earl's own room, and there he found Lord
Brentford alone. The last time he had been there he had come to plead
with the Earl on behalf of Lord Chiltern, and the Earl had then been
a stern self-willed man, vigorous from a sense of power, and very
able to maintain and to express his own feelings.
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