Now he had been tempted back again to the old haunts.
Would the Countesses' cards be showered upon him again?
One card, or rather note, had reached him while he was yet at Tankerville, reminding him of old days.

It was from Mrs.Low, the wife of the barrister with whom he had worked when he had been a law student in London.

She had asked him to come and dine with them after the old fashion in Baker Street, naming a day as to which she presumed that he would by that time have finished his affairs at Tankerville, intimating also that Mr.Low would then have finished his at North Broughton.

Now Mr.Low had sat for North Broughton before Phineas left London, and his wife spoke of the seat as a certainty.

Phineas could not keep himself from feeling that Mrs.Low intended to triumph over him; but, nevertheless, he accepted the invitation.