Finn",
showed at once that something was wrong.
"What is it you have heard, my lord?" said Phineas.
"That you and Chiltern went over,--last year to,--Belgium, and
fought,--a duel there!"
Now it must have been the case that, in the set among which they
all lived,--Lord Brentford and his son and daughter and Phineas
Finn,--the old lord was the only man who had not heard of the duel
before this. It had even penetrated to the dull ears of Mr. Kennedy,
reminding him, as it did so, that his wife had,--told him a lie! But
it was the fact that no rumour of the duel had reached the Earl till
this morning.
"It is true," said Phineas.
"I have never been so much shocked in my life;--never. I had no idea
that you had any thought of aspiring to the hand of Miss Effingham."
The lord's voice as he said this was very stern.
"As I aspired in vain, and as Chiltern has been successful, that need
not now be made a reproach against me."
"I do not know what to think of it, Mr. Finn. I am so much surprised
that I hardly know what to say. I must declare my opinion at once,
that you behaved,--very badly."
"I do not know how much you know, my lord, and how much you do not
know; and the circumstances of the little affair do not permit me to
be explicit about them; but, as you have expressed your opinion so
openly you must allow me to express mine, and to say that, as far as
I can judge of my own actions, I did not behave badly at all.
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