At dinner they all met,--the father, the three children, and Mrs.Finn.How far the young people among themselves had been able to throw off something of the gloom of death need not here be asked; but in the presence of their father they were sad and sombre, almost as he was.

On the next day, early in the morning, the younger lad returned to his college, and Lord Silverbridge went up to London, where he was supposed to have his home.
"Perhaps you would not mind reading these letters," the Duke said to Mrs.Finn, when she again went to him, in compliance with a message from him asking for her presence.

Then she sat down and read two letters, one from Lady Cantrip, and the other from a Mrs.Jeffrey Palliser, each of which contained an invitation for his daughter, and expressed a hope that Lady Mary would not be unwilling to spend some time with the writer.

Lady Cantrip's letter was long, and went minutely into circumstances.

If Lady Mary would come to her, she would abstain from having other company in the house till her young friend's spirits should have somewhat recovered themselves.