No man was ever more the recluse and at the same time the man of the world.

He had had his bitter little comedy of life, but it was different from that of his brother Frank.

It was buried very deep; not one of his family knew of it: Edward Lambert, and one or two others who had good reason never to speak of it, were the only persons possessing his secret.
But all England knew of Frank's mesalliance.

And the question was, What would people do?
They very properly did nothing at first.

They waited to see how the Armours would act: they did not congratulate; they did not console; that was left to those papers which chanced to resent General Armour's politics, and those others which were emotional and sensational on every subject--particularly so where women were concerned.
It was the beginning of the season, but the Armours had decided that they would not go to town.