'I return from Mayfair Hall to find you have called. You will, I know, be good enough to forgive my saying what seems an unfriendly thing, when I assure you that the circumstances of my peculiar situation make it desirable, if not necessary. It is that I beg you not to give me the pleasure of a visit from you for some little time, for unhappily the frequency of your kind calls has been noticed; and I am now in fear that we may be talked about--invidiously--to the injury of us both. The town, or a section of it, has turned its bull's-eye upon me with a brightness which I did not in the least anticipate; and you will, I am sure, perceive how indispensable it is that I should be circumspect.--Yours sincerely, E. PETHERWIN.' 21. A STREET--NEIGH'S ROOMS--CHRISTOPHER'S ROOMS As soon as Ethelberta had driven off from the Hall, Ladywell turned back again; and, passing the front entrance, overtook his acquaintance Mr. Neigh, who had been one of the last to emerge. The two were going in the same direction, and they walked a short distance together. 'Has anything serious happened?' said Neigh, noticing an abstraction in his companion. 'You don't seem in your usual mood to-night.' 'O, it is only that affair between us,' said Ladywell. 'Affair? Between you and whom?' 'Her and myself, of course. It will be in every fellow's mouth now, I suppose!' 'But--not anything between yourself and Mrs. Petherwin?' 'A mere nothing. But surely you started, Neigh, when you suspected it just this moment?' 'No--you merely fancied that.' 'Did she not speak well to-night! You were in the room, I believe?' 'Yes, I just turned in for half-an-hour: it seems that everybody does, so I thought I must. But I had no idea that you were feeble that way.' 'It is very kind of you, Neigh--upon my word it is--very kind; and of course I appreciate the delicacy which--which--' 'What's kind?' 'I mean your well-intentioned plan for making me believe that nothing is known of this. But stories will of course get wind; and if our attachment has made more noise in the world than I intended it should, and causes any public interest, why--ha-ha!--it must. There is some little romance in it perhaps, and people will talk of matters of that sort between individuals of any repute--little as that is with one of the pair.' 'Of course they will--of course. You are a rising man, remember, whom some day the world will delight to honour.' 'Thank you for that, Neigh. Thank you sincerely.' 'Not at all. It is merely justice to say it, and one must he generous to deserve thanks.' 'Ha-ha!--that's very nicely put, and undeserved I am sure. And yet I need a word of that sort sometimes!' 'Genius is proverbially modest.'