Now there had come a
civilly-worded invitation, asking him to dine with the offended
nobleman. The note had been written by Lady Laura, but it had
purported to come from Lord Brentford himself. He sent back word to
say that he should be happy to have the honour of dining with Lord
Brentford.
Parliament at this time had been sitting nearly a month, and it was
already March. Phineas had heard nothing of Lady Laura, and did not
even know that she was in London till he saw her handwriting. He did
not know that she had not gone back to her husband, and that she had
remained with her father all the winter at Saulsby. He had also
heard that Lord Chiltern had been at Saulsby. All the world had been
talking of the separation of Mr. Kennedy from his wife, one half of
the world declaring that his wife, if not absolutely false to him,
had neglected all her duties; and the other half asserting that Mr.
Kennedy's treatment of his wife had been so bad that no woman could
possibly have lived with him. There had even been a rumour that Lady
Laura had gone off with a lover from the Duke of Omnium's garden
party, and some indiscreet tongue had hinted that a certain unmarried
Under-Secretary of State was missing at the same time. But Lord
Chiltern upon this had shown his teeth with so strong a propensity to
do some real biting, that no one had ventured to repeat that rumour.
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