Sir Alured and Mr.Wharton were second cousins, and close friends.

Sir Alured trusted his cousin altogether in all things, believing him to be the great legal luminary of Great Britain, and Mr.Wharton returned his cousin's affection, entertaining something akin to reverence for the man who was the head of his family.

He dearly loved Sir Alured,--and loved Sir Alured's wife and two daughters.

Nevertheless, the second week at Wharton Hall became always tedious to him, and the fourth, fifth, and sixth weeks frightful with ennui.
Perhaps it was with some unconscious dread of this tedium that he made a sudden suggestion to Sir Alured in reference to Dresden.

Sir Alured had come to him at his chambers, and the two old men were sitting together near the open window.