Arthur Welby had approached him, but Lord Findon had rather pointedly drawn an arm through Welby's and swept him away.

No one else spoke to him, and even the private secretary, who had before befriended him, left him severely alone.
None of the ladies in the drawing-room upstairs showed, as it seemed to him, any desire for his company, and he was reduced to looking at a stand of miniatures near the door, while his heart swelled fiercely.
So this was what society meant ?--a wretched pleasure purchased on degrading terms! A poor dependant like himself, he supposed, was to be seen and not heard--must speak when he was spoken to, play chorus, and whisper humbleness.

As to meeting these big-wigs on equal terms, that clearly was not expected.

An artist may be allowed to know something about art; on any other subject let him listen to his betters.
He said to himself that he was sick of the whole business; and he would gladly have slipt through the open door down the stairs, and out of the house.

He was restrained, however, by the protest of a sore ambition which would not yet admit defeat.