They would dine together, and then read something in the evening--quite alone; and so they did.

It was nearly nine o'clock when the servant announced Claudius and the Duke.

The latter, of course, knew nothing about Margaret's troubles, and was in high spirits.

As for Claudius, his momentary excitement, caused by Mr.Screw's insinuations, had long since passed away, and he was as calm as ever, meditating a graphic description of his day's excursion to Greenwood Cemetery for Margaret's benefit.

It was a lugubrious subject, but he well knew how to make his talk interesting.
It is the individual, not the topic, that makes the conversation; if a man can talk well, graveyards are as good a subject as the last novel, and he will make tombstones more attractive than scandal.
No one could have told from Claudius's appearance or conversation that night that there was anything in the world to cloud his happiness.