No, Duke; it behoves me to live in houses of my
own. Women of whom more is known can afford to be your guests."
"Marie, I would have no other guest than you."
"It cannot be so, Duke."
"And why not?"
"Why not? Am I to be put to the blush by being made to answer such a
question as that? Because the world would say that the Duke of Omnium
had a new mistress, and that Madame Goesler was the woman. Do you
think that I would be any man's mistress;--even yours? Or do you
believe that for the sake of the softness of a summer evening on an
Italian lake, I would give cause to the tongues of the women here to
say that I was such a thing? You would have me lose all that I have
gained by steady years of sober work for the sake of a week or two of
dalliance such as that! No, Duke; not for your dukedom!"
How his Grace might have got through his difficulty had they been
left alone, cannot be told. For at this moment the door was opened,
and Lady Glencora Palliser was announced.
CHAPTER LVIII
Rara Avis in Terris
"Come and see the country and judge for yourself," said Phineas.
"I should like nothing better," said Mr. Monk.
"It has often seemed to me that men in Parliament know less about
Ireland than they do of the interior of Africa," said Phineas.
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