"Gone for a stroll. I told them that I had a famished husband coming in and must wait at home for him. I think Gerard and his wife have only gone to your mother's. I don't know about Oscar and Selina. Perhaps she is gone to see the new baby at the Rectory."
"Selina does not care for babies."
"But she cares for gossip. And Lady Mary is well enough for any amount of that."
"What is that letter in your hand?" asked Robert.
His wife's face changed to sadness. "It contains bad news, Robert; and though I have been chattering to you so gaily and lightly, it is lying on my heart. Francis cannot come."
"No!"
"Some dreadful measure—important, he calls it—has to be debated upon in committee in the House this afternoon, and Francis has to stay for it."
"Well, I am disappointed," cried Robert.
"As we all are. Robert, I do think it is too bad. I do think Francis might have spared this one day to us," added Mary, with a sigh. "He seems to regard politics as quite a recreation."
"Don't be hard on him, Mary. He has little else now in the way of recreation."