She had desired him to free her,--and he had gone. Indeed,
as to his going at that moment there had been no alternative, as
he considered himself to have been turned out of Lord Chiltern's
house. The red-headed lord, in the fierceness of his defence of Miss
Palliser, had told the lover that under such and such circumstances
he could not be allowed to remain at Harrington Hall. Lord Chiltern
had said something about "his roof." Now, when a host questions the
propriety of a guest remaining under his roof, the guest is obliged
to go. Gerard Maule had gone; and, having offended his sweetheart
by a most impolite allusion to Boulogne, had been forced to go as
a rejected lover. From that day to this he had done nothing,--not
because he was contented with the lot assigned to him, for every
morning, as he lay on his bed, which he usually did till twelve,
he swore to himself that nothing should separate him from Adelaide
Palliser,--but simply because to do nothing was customary with him.
"What is a man to do?" he not unnaturally asked his friend Captain
Boodle at the club.
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