"You have heard all the calumny about Lady Laura Kennedy."
"You do not mean to say that a story such as that has affected your position."
"I fancy it has. But you must not suppose, Madame Goesler, that I mean to complain. A man must take these things as they come. No one has received more kindness from friends than I have, and few perhaps more favours from fortune. All this about Mr. Kennedy has been unlucky,—but it cannot be helped."
"Do you mean to say that the morals of your party will be offended?" said Madame Goesler, almost laughing.
"Lord Fawn, you know, is very particular. In sober earnest one cannot tell how these things operate; but they do operate gradually. One's friends are sometimes very glad of an excuse for not befriending one."
"Lady Laura is coming home?"
"Yes."
"That will put an end to it."
"There is nothing to put an end to except the foul-mouthed malice of a lying newspaper. Nobody believes anything against Lady Laura."
"I'm not so sure of that. I believe nothing against her."