Fenwick had never spent a more arduous hour than that which he devoted to the business of dressing for Lord Findon's dinner-party.

It was his first acquaintance with dress-clothes.

He had, indeed, dined once or twice at the tables of the Westmoreland gentry in the course of his portrait-painting experiences.

But there had been no 'party,' and it had been perfectly understood that for the Kendal bookseller's son a black Sunday coat was sufficient.

Now, however, he was to meet the great world on its own terms; and though he tried hard to disguise his nervousness from his sponsor, Philip Cuningham, he did not succeed.
Cuningham instructed him where to buy a second-hand dress-suit that very nearly fitted him, and he had duly provided himself with gloves and tie.