Greystock, in which he
was asked for his "written explanation." If there be a proceeding which an
official man dislikes worse than another, it is a demand for a written
explanation. "It is impossible," Frank had said, "that your conduct to my
cousin should be allowed to drop without further notice. Hers has been
without reproach. Your engagement with her has been made public, chiefly
by you, and it is out of the question that she should be treated as you
are treating her, and that your lordship should escape without
punishment." What the punishment was to be he did not say; but there did
come a punishment on Lord Fawn from the eyes of every man whose eyes met
his own, and in the tones of every voice that addressed him. The looks of
the very clerks in the India Office accused him of behaving badly to a
young woman, and the doorkeeper at the House of Lords seemed to glance
askance at him. And now Lady Glencora, who was the social leader of his
own party, the feminine pole-star of the Liberal heavens, the most popular
and the most daring woman in London, had attacked him personally, and told
him that he ought to call on Lady Eustace!
Let it not for a moment be supposed that Lord Fawn was without conscience
in the matter or indifferent to moral obligations.
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