fell a hush of expectancy, a sense of wonder, as to what these things
boded. A great enforced quiet pervaded the building, the least undue
noise in any part being sure to be followed by the angry voice of the
master demanding the cause. Once, as the servants were supping in the
kitchen on the side of the house most remote from that which he
occupied, Lord Pharanx, slippered and in dressing-gown, appeared at the
doorway, purple with rage, threatening to pack the whole company of
them out of doors if they did not moderate the clatter of their knives
and forks. He had always been regarded with fear in his own household,
and the very sound of his voice now became a terror. His food was taken
to him in the room he had made his habitation, and it was remarked
that, though simple before in his gustatory tastes, he now--possibly
owing to the sedentary life he led--became fastidious, insisting on
_recherché_ bits. I mention all these details to you--as I shall
mention others--not because they have the least connection with the
tragedy as it subsequently occurred, but merely because I know them,
and you have requested me to state all I know.'

'Yes,' he answered, with a suspicion of _ennui_, 'you are right. I may
as well hear the whole--if I must hear a part.'

'Meanwhile, Randolph appears to have visited the earl at least once a
day. In such retirement did he, too, live that many of his friends
still supposed him to be in India. There was only one respect in which
he broke through this privacy. You know, of course, that the Orvens
are, and, I believe, always have been, noted as the most obstinate, the
most crabbed of Conservatives in politics. Even among the
past-enamoured families of England, they stand out conspicuously in
this respect. Is it credible to you, then, that Randolph should offer
himself to the Radical Association of the Borough of Orven as a