When he reached the
house he was asked into a room in which a lot of people were playing
billiards or crowded round a billiard-table. The Chilterns were gone,
and he was at first ill at ease, finding no friend. Madame Goesler,
who had met him at Harrington, came up to him, and told him that
the Duchess would be there directly, and then Phineas, who had been
playing at the moment of his entrance, shook hands with him, and said
a word or two about the Chilterns. "I was so delighted to hear of
your acquittal," said Maule.
"We never talk about that now," said Phineas, going back to his
stroke. Adelaide Palliser was not present, and the difficulty of
the meeting had not yet been encountered. They all remained in the
billiard-room till it was time for the ladies to dress, and Adelaide
had not yet ventured to show herself. Somebody offered to take him to
his room, and he was conducted upstairs, and told that they dined at
eight,--but nothing had been arranged. Nobody had as yet mentioned
her name to him. Surely it could not be that she had gone away when
she heard that he was coming, and that she was really determined to
make the quarrel perpetual? He had three quarters of an hour in which
to get ready for dinner, and he felt himself to be uncomfortable and
out of his element.
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