Mr. Lobyer's conversational powers were not taxed further just at present, for a ponderous butler announced dinner, and the host offered his arm to Lady Cecil, to the aggravation of a county matron who considered herself the leading personage at Pevenshall. He said very little during dinner, and that little related chiefly to the aspect of commercial affairs in America, the tightness of the money-market, the drain of gold from the Bank of England, and other equally entertaining topics for general conversation. Two or three men at Mr. Lobyer's end of the table listened reverentially to any words that fell from his lips, and discoursed with much gusto upon his favourite subjects; but the rest of the party divided themselves into little clusters and a buzz of animated chatter filled the room. In the course of a commercial discussion it transpired, incidentally, that Mr. Lobyer had spent the last few days in Manchester, and that things were looking dull there, and this was all that he said about his absence from home. The evening glided by very rapidly in the great drawing-room, where there was room for a carpet-dance without disarrangement of furniture, and where there were all manner of delightful nooks and corners for confidential conversation. A social tragedy might have been enacted in one corner of that spacious apartment, while the general occupants of the chamber were laughing and talking in supreme unconsciousness of domestic storm or trouble. The evening passed very pleasantly. When a large party is assembled in a country-house there are generally to be found some nice people, and at Pevenshall the nice people were in the majority. There were musical people, and people who were madly devoted to amateur theatricals; and there was one gentleman who was great in the performance of spirit-rapping and table-turning; and another gentleman who shone as an _improvisatore_, and who sang extempore buffo-songs, which every body thought delightfully clever, but which would have seemed atrociously stupid if people had had sufficient time or presence of mind to grasp the full meaning of the words, or if the singer had not been artful enough to cover his worst puns and his most excruciating rhymes by a volley of common chords. Altogether the evenings at Pevenshall were successful; the more so perhaps because the master of the house was apt to withdraw himself to the smoking-room or the billiard-room, with a few chosen companions. When bidding Flo good-night on this first evening of her visit, Cecil declared that she had enjoyed herself very much. "I have been leading such a quiet life lately, that I did not think it was in me to enjoy society so much as I have done to-night. What nice people some of your new friends are, Flo!" "Do you think so?" Mrs. Lobyer said, elevating her shoulders with a little gesture, which was the last thing in fashion in the best Parisian circles. "Perhaps you have not seen the nicest of them yet."