Hereupon his lordship became more earnest in his solicitations, and made such clumsy attempts to explain away his first proposal, that the young lady began to think more contemptuously of him than she had ever thought before. And now his lordship saw that there was some truth and justice in the observations which had been thrown out by his friend Erpingham. Seeing the lady so resolute and obdurate, he thought it would be the wisest step that he could take to leave her for the present, in hope that hereafter her indignation might somewhat abate. When he was gone, the poor, perplexed, and almost desolate one, felt in some measure relieved by his absence; but, when she began to reflect, she found that her hopes of the patronage of Lady Smatterton were now gone; for it would be absolutely impossible for her to place herself again in a situation where she might be exposed to the importunities of Lord Spoonbill. And when at a late hour in the evening her father returned from the City, it was too much for her to receive him cheerfully, and she could no longer speak sanguinely and with confidence concerning her prospects under the patronage of Lady Smatterton. As for Mr Primrose, no brighter prospect seemed to shine before him; for he had gained no intelligence. He had found, as he might have expected, the office of his agent closed, and there was no one in the house who could give him the slightest information. He was astonished at the world's apathy; no one seemed to sympathise with him. Everybody was wrapped up in their own concerns, and the thoughts of all seemed to be centred in themselves. This is indeed not much to be wondered at. It is the way of the world, and always has been, and always will, until some change takes place which we cannot yet anticipate or conjecture. It was pleasantly observed by a sentimental jockey, who lost by a considerable length the first race he ever rode, "I'll never ride another race as long as I live. The riders are the most selfish, narrow-minded creatures on the face of the earth. They kept riding and galloping as fast as they could, and never had once the kindness or civility to stop for me." In some such state of mind as this was Mr Primrose when he returned from his fruitless excursion in the City. All the inquiries which he had made about his agent, as to where he was, and how long the office had been shut, and what time it would be open tomorrow, and ten thousand other matters, had been answered with a toil-saving brevity and a coldness, which intimated that the persons answering the questions had not so great an interest in them as the person asking them. CHAPTER XI.