Why men should have been earlier in keeping their dinner engagements on that day than on any other he did not understand; but it was the fact, probably, that the great anxiety of the time made those who were at all concerned in the matter very keen to hear and to be heard.

During these days everybody was in a hurry,--everybody was eager; and there was a common feeling that not a minute was to be lost.

There were three ladies in the room,--Lady Laura, Miss Fitzgibbon, and Mrs.
Bonteen.

The latter was the wife of a gentleman who had been a junior Lord of the Admiralty in the late Government, and who lived in the expectation of filling, perhaps, some higher office in the Government which, as he hoped, was soon to be called into existence.

There were five gentlemen besides Phineas Finn himself,--Mr.Bonteen, Mr.
Kennedy, Mr.Fitzgibbon, Barrington Erle, who had been caught in spite of all that Lady Laura had said as to the difficulty of such an operation, and Lord Brentford.