About this time Mr. Temple came to tell Alfred, that a ship had been actually ordered to be in readiness to carry him on his intended embassy; that Mr. Shaw had recovered; that Cunningham Falconer had no more excuses or pretences for delay; despatches, the last Lord Oldborough said he should ever receive from him as envoy, had now arrived, and Temple was to have set out immediately; but that the whole embassy had been delayed, because Lord Oldborough had received a letter from Count Altenberg, giving an account of alarming revolutionary symptoms, which had appeared in the capital, and in the provinces, in the dominions of his sovereign, Lord Oldborough had shown Mr. Temple what related to public affairs, but had not put the whole letter into his hands. All that he could judge from what he read was, that the Count’s mind was most seriously occupied with the dangerous state of public affairs in his country. “I should have thought,” added Mr. Temple, “that the whole of this communication was entirely of a political nature, but that in the last page which Lord Oldborough put into my hand, the catch-words at the bottom were _Countess Christina_.” Alfred observed, “that, without the aid of Rosamond’s imagination to supply something more, nothing could be made of this. However, it was a satisfaction to have had direct news of Count Altenberg.” The next day Mr. Temple came for Alfred. Lord Oldborough desired to see him. “Whatever his business may be, I am sure it is important and interesting,” said Mr. Temple; “by this time I ought to be well acquainted with Lord Oldborough--I know the signs of his suppressed emotion, and I have seldom seen him put such force upon himself to appear calm, and to do the business of the day, before he should yield his mind to what pressed on his secret thoughts.” CHAPTER XXXVII. When Alfred arrived, Lord Oldborough was engaged with some gentlemen from the city about a loan. By the length of time which the negotiators stayed, they tried Alfred’s patience; but the minister sat with immoveable composure, till they knew their own minds, and till they departed. Then, the loan at once dismissed from his thoughts, he was ready for Alfred. “You have married, I think, Mr. Alfred Percy, since I saw you last--I congratulate you.” His lordship was not in the habit of noticing such common events; Alfred was surprised and obliged by the interest in his private affairs which this congratulation denoted. “I congratulate you, sir, because I understand you have married a woman of sense. To marry a fool--to form or to have any connexion with a fool,” continued his lordship, his countenance changing remarkably as he spoke, “I conceive to be the greatest evil, the greatest curse, that can be inflicted on a man of sense.”