In this autumn he went up to London long before his family, and then found them at Merle Park on the Saturday after their arrival there. They had gone down on the previous Wednesday. On the Saturday, when he entered the house, the first thing he saw was Mr. Traffick's hat in the hall. This was Saturday, 23rd November, and there would be three months before Parliament would meet! A curse was not muttered, but just formed between his teeth, as he saw the hat. Sir Thomas, in his angriest mood, never went so far as quite to mutter his curses. Will one have to expiate the anathemas which are well kept within the barrier of the teeth, or only those which have achieved some amount of utterance? Sir Thomas went on, with a servant at his heels, chucking about the doors rather violently, till he found Mr. Traffick alone in the drawing-room. Mr. Traffick had had a glass of sherry and bitters brought in for his refreshment, and Sir Thomas saw the glass on the mantelpiece. He never took sherry and bitters himself. One glass of wine, with his two o'clock mutton chop, sufficed him till dinner. It was all very well to be a Member of Parliament, but, after all, Members of Parliament never do anything. Men who work don't take sherry and bitters! Men who work don't put their hats in other people's halls without leave from the master of the house! "Where's your mistress?" said Sir Thomas, to the man, without taking any notice of his son-in-law. The ladies had only just come in from driving, were very cold, and had gone up to dress. Sir Thomas went out of the room, again banging the door, and again taking no notice of Mr. Traffick. Mr. Traffick put his hand up to the mantelpiece, and finished his sherry and bitters. "My dear," said Mr. Traffick to his wife, up in her bed-room, "your father has come down in one of his tantrums." "I knew he would," said Augusta. "But it does not signify the least. Give him a kiss when you see him, and don't seem to notice it. There is not a man in the world has a higher regard for me than your father, but if any one were to see him in one of his tantrums they would suppose he meant to be uncivil." "I hope he won't be downright unkind, Septimus," said his wife. "Never fear! The kindest-hearted man in the world is your father." "So he's here!" That was the first word of greeting which Sir Thomas addressed to his wife in her bed-room. "Yes, Tom;--they're here." "When did they come?" "Well;--to tell the truth, we found them here." "The ----!" But Sir Thomas restrained the word on the right, or inside, of the teeth. "They thought we were to be here a day sooner, and so they came on the Wednesday morning. They were to come, you know." "I wish I knew when they were to go." "You don't want to turn your own daughter out of your own house?"