"Ah;—he would make little of anything. But if I were ill he would be in London by the first train."
"Kennedy would let you go if you asked him."
"But he advises me not to go. He says my duty does not require it, unless Oswald be in danger. Don't you know, Mr. Finn, how hard it is for a wife not to take advice when it is so given?" This she said, within six months of her marriage, to the man who had been her husband's rival!
Phineas asked her whether Violet had heard the news, and learned that she was still ignorant of it. "I got your letter only this morning, and I have not seen her," said Lady Laura. "Indeed, I am so angry with her that I hardly wish to see her." Thursday was Lady Baldock's night, and Phineas went from Grosvenor Place to Berkeley Square. There he saw Violet, and found that she had heard of the accident.
"I am so glad to see you, Mr. Finn," she said. "Do tell me;—is it much?"
"Much in inconvenience, certainly; but not much in danger."
"I think Laura was so unkind not to send me word! I only heard it just now. Did you see it?"
"I was close to him, and helped him up. The horse jumped into a river with him, and crushed him up against the bank."
"How lucky that you should be there! Had you jumped the river?"
"Yes;—almost unintentionally, for my horse was rushing so that I could not hold him. Chiltern was riding a brute that no one should have ridden. No one will again."